13 Facts About Jakob Nacken

Jakob Hudson Nacken or Jacob Nacken was a German circus performer active in Europe and the United States.

Jakob Nacken began his career as an exceptionally tall person while a teenager, performing in a traveling circus, and appeared in the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Jakob Nacken was employed as a giant Santa Claus and appeared on American television as a figure of high stature and in freak shows as the World's Tallest Man.

Jakob Nacken was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, on 15 February 1906.

Jakob Nacken began his career in show business performing as "Uranus" and the "giant from the Rhineland" in a German traveling circus.

Jakob Nacken was called Germany's tallest man and was credited as being the world's tallest man at the time.

Jakob Nacken had bruises on his head from hitting the tops of doorways that were built to accommodate people of normal height.

Jakob Nacken appeared at Luna Park, an amusement park in Paris, in 1922.

Jakob Nacken returned to Germany at the beginning of World War II and was immediately drafted into the army, becoming their tallest soldier on record.

Jakob Nacken was put into a gun crew with 250 soldiers who were captured at Calais, France, in August 1944.

Jakob Nacken appeared on several television shows as a celebrity known as "Germany's Long Jake".

On 10 August 1927, Jakob Nacken married Maria from Kematen an der Ybbs, Austria, in Brussels, Belgium.

Jakob Nacken became a citizen of the United States on 16 December 1955.