The Man Who was Born a Dwarf and Died a Giant

Who was Adam Rainer?

Image of Adam Rainer as an adult

Adam Rainer was born in 1899 in Graz, Austria. Not a lot is known about Adam’s personal life. This is because the interest surrounding his life stems from his peculiar condition that led him to being both a dwarf and a giant in his lifetime. Besides this point, nothing else about his life was of particular interest to the world at large.

Adam’s parents were both of average height. When World War I broke out in 1914, Adam enlisted in the army. At this point Adam was only 4 feet 6 inches tall. Because of his height, doctors classified him as a dwarf and therefore too weak to be a productive soldier. They thought that he would be a liability rather than a useful addition to the army.

Despite being refused entry into the army, Adam remained determined to serve. A year later, Adam had grown a further 2 inches in height and again enlisted to join the army. He was again rejected on the basis of his height.

Dwarfism is generally characterized as a height of 4 feet 10 inches and below. At the age of 19, Adam was only 4 feet 8 inches tall. He was therefore still classified as a dwarf. His medical records also show that he was very thin.

However, despite being very short and thin Adam had abnormally large hands and feet. His hands measured 23.9 cm (9.4 inches). It has been recorded that at the time Adam first tried to enlist in the army he wore shoes that were an EU 43 (US 10). His shoe size had doubled to an EU 53 (US 20) by the time he tried to enlist in the army the second time. This was an abnormally large shoe size for a man of his very short height.

At 4 feet 8 inches, Adam’s shoe size was a size US 20 which is larger than 7 foot 6 inches tall Yao Ming, an NBA basketball player whose shoe size is a US 18.

At the age of 21 when most people stop growing, Adam began growing at an alarming rate. In 1932 when Adam was aged 33 he had reached the height of 7 feet 2 inches. Alongside his extreme growth spurt Adam also developed a severe spinal curvature.