Werner Doehner
Werner Gustav Doehner (born March 14, 1929 in Darmstadt ; † November 8, 2019 in Laconia , New Hampshire ) was the last of the surviving passengers of the airship disaster of the LZ 129 in 1937 .
Life
Doehner was born in Darmstadt and spent his childhood in Mexico City , where his father was managing director of Beick, Felix and Company Pharmaceuticals. He married his wife Ellin, with whom he was married for 52 years, in Essen, Germany in 1967 and moved with her to Mexico City. In 1984 Döhner, his wife and son Bernard emigrated to the USA to work as an electrical engineer. Doehner has been described as a hardworking man and devoted family man who worked as an electrical engineer in Mexico, Ecuador, and the United States. In 1999 he retired from New England Electric System in Westborough, Massachusetts.
After retiring, Doehner and his wife lived in Colorado until 2018 before moving to Laconia, New Hampshire.
Last survivor of the Hindenburg disaster
Doehner, the last living survivor of the Hindenburg disaster, lived his life relatively inconspicuously. It finally became historically significant when it became known as the last living survivor of the original 62 passengers and crew who jumped from the flames of the airship on May 6, 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. The flames and the crash of the LZ 129 - Hindenburg killed Doehner's father, sister and 34 other people. Doehner, his parents, his older brother and sister traveled on the Hindenburg from Germany to New Jersey. In 2017, Doehner broke his self-imposed silence and told the Associated Press, on the 80th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster, that his mother kicked him and his older brother off the ship while it was on fire. His mother then jumped from the burning Hindenburg onto the ground after them. Hydrogen exposed to the air had caused an inferno on the airship, causing the airship to burst into flames as it attempted to land.
Web links
- Werner Doehner, last survivor dies at the age of 90 , queried on February 5, 2020
- Last survivor of the Hindenburg disaster is dead , queried on February 5, 2020
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Doehner, Werner |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Doehner, Werner Gustav (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | last survivor of the "Hindenburg" disaster |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 14, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Darmstadt |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 8, 2019 |
| Place of death | Laconia , New Hampshire |