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Gustav Gerneth
Gustav Gerneth
Gerneth on his 109th birthday in 2014.
Birth: 15 October 1905
Stettin, Prussia, German Empire (now Szczecin, Poland)
Death: 21 October 2019
Havelberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Age: 114 years, 6 days
Country: PolandPOLGermanyGER
Unvalidated

Gustav Gerneth (15 October 1905 – 21 October 2019) was a German supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG) and Guinness World Records (GWR). He was believed to have been Germany's oldest living man since the death of 108-year-old Erich Walde on 9 August 2013 and the oldest living person in Germany since the death of 110-year-old Herta Oeser on 13 March 2016. If validated, he would be the oldest man ever to be born and die or living in Germany. Gerneth would have also been the oldest living man in Europe (and possibly the world), and possibly be the oldest World War II veteran in the world at the time of his death. However, his age remains unvalidated as of 2024.

Biography

Gustav Gerneth was born on 15 October 1905 in Szczecin [German: Stettin] in the province of Pomerania, Prussia, which was then part of the German Empire but is now Poland. There, he was trained as machinist and started his career by seafaring in 1924.

In 1930, he married his wife Charlotte Grubert, the daughter of his employer who owned a ship anchored in Havelberg. The couple raised three sons in Stettin, again. Mr. Gerneth serviced in World War II and was captured by Russian corps until 1947. Later the family moved to Havelberg and Gerneth worked in the local gas plant until his retirement in 1972. His wife died in 1988.

At the time of his 110th birthday in 2015, Gustav Gerneth was the seventh German man to become a supercentenarian. He was reported to have outlived his sons, being in their 80s, by the age of 109. Until the age of 107, he purchased everything on his own. Later, his family started taking care of him but Gerneth was still able to take care of himself, being interested in today's politics and sports.

On 15 October 2017, Gustav Gerneth may have become the first German man ever to have reached the age of 112. If his age is true, he could have been the first ever German-born person to turn 113 (not counting emigrants) and the first man in the world since 2011 who turned 114.

Following the death of Masazo Nonaka on 20 January 2019, Gerneth became a candidate to the title of the world’s oldest man, as well as possibly the last surviving man born in 1905.

On his 114th birthday in 2019, he expressed his wish to celebrate his 115th birthday in 2020. Being asked for his secret of longevity, Gerneth trusted in good meals (always butter, never margarine), no alcohol or cigarettes but also no active sports.

At the age of 114, he was reported living still on his own in Havelberg, inhabiting the same apartment for more than 45 years. His granddaughter took care of him.

Gustav Gerneth died in Havelberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany on 21 October 2019 at the age of 114 years, 6 days.

Gallery

References


Europe's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (VE)

Geert Adriaans Boomgaard • Unknown • Matthias DodenhoffFrederick StabbinsWilliam MugfurSven ErikssonJean-Pierre DupontWilliam WalkerBening Arnold • Hans Schaftner-BurginLars OlofssonMarc PicqJohan Svanstrom • Erik JanssonFrancesco CubaddaThomas PopeJohn FrancklowKarl Nilsson • Constant De LichteAntonio Marchi • August KarlssonKarl GlocknerAnders JonassonMathias Hansen SaetherJan KipWillem Kostering • Francesco Paba • John Mosley Turner • Antonije MladenovicFriedrich Wedeking • Frederick Butterfield • Jean Teillet • Pasquale CappelloGiuseppe Arena • Luigi SabaIngebrigt Johansen • Victor Guillot • Andrei Kuznetsoff • Herman Smith-Johannsen • John Evans • Henri PerignonDomenico Minervino • Josep Armengol-Jover • Pablo Roy • Emile Fourcade • Bernard Delhom • Valentino StellaGregorio Merino • Antonio Baldo • Antonio Urrea-Hernandez • Alejandro Rivera Santalla • Antonio Todde • Joan Riudavets-MollHermann Dornemann • Jerzy Pajaczkowski-Dydynski • Maurice Floquet • Henry AllinghamHarry Patch • Stanley Lucas • Jan Goossenaerts • Francisco Fernandez • Arturo Licata • Rezso GallaiPhilippe Vocanson • Harold Bracher • Francisco Nunez Olivera • Gustav GernethBob Weighton • Dumitru Comanescu • Saturnino de la Fuente Garcia • Stanislaw Kowalski • Andre BoiteHans SchornackAndre LudwigJohn Tinniswood


Germany's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (VE)

Margarethe Sauer • Katharina Braun • Leni Matthaei • Mathilde Schulz • Petronella Wansleban • Agnes Gerrath • Anna Fleinert • Bertha Brandes • Wilhelmine Heister • Gertrude Schmalohr • Maria Corba • Elfried Libbert • Paula Baumgartner • Gertrud Pannwitz • Ottilie Aleith • Karolina Kruger • Franziska Umrath • Pauline Spyra • Wilhelm Lehnen • Marie Stegmann • Wilhelm Schorner • Maria Laqua • Rosalia Hasenkampf • Magdalene Regener • Anna Stephan • Lina Zimmer • Hermann Dornemann • Frieda Muller • Irmgard von Stephani • Elsa Tauser • Frieda Borchert • Emma Joisten • Alwine Werner • Zhenya Broytman • Frieda Schmidt • Berta Zeisler • Charlotte Bauch • Karolina Grober • Elisabeth Schneider • Gertrud Henze • Frieda Szwillus • Johanna Klink • Charlotte Klamroth • Margarete Dannheimer • Else Ronsch • Herta Oeser • Gustav GernethMathilde MangeKatharina HagemeyerAdele RodensteinJosefine OllmannAnna CernohorskyCharlotte Kretschmann


Germany's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (VE)

Karl Glockner • Unknown • Josef Callenberg • Mathias Bollinger • Unknown • Johann Hartlieb • Adolf Lange • Karl Pfeiffer • Johann Wost • Friedrich Wedeking • August Schmidt • Wilhelm Deffner • Karl Bulow • Fritz Witt • Heinrich Oppermann • Ernst Schutt • Wenzel Novotny • Otto Trost • Peter Schmitt • Friedrich von Rauchhaupt • Wilhelm Gazioch • A. Hermann Lange • Ernst Laurenty • Gustav Rupnow • Robert Hubener • Wilhelm Lehnen • Jonathan Richter • Wilhelm Schorner • Lorenz Imminger • Georg Bredtschneider • Hermann Dornemann • Robert Meier • Wilhelm Remmert • Rudolf Christmann • Georg Thalhofer • Franz Kunstler • Georg Rosenkranz • Hermann Mayer-Kaupp • Erich Berger • Richard Hinz • Friedrich Volmer • Martin Dressel • Paul Veit • Bernhard Prott • Erich Walde • Gustav GernethHeinrich HomannHans SchornackKarlheinz StauberKarl Haidle

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