Franz Kunstler
Born	( 1900-07-24 ) 24 July 1900 Sosd , Transleithania , Austria-Hungary
Died	27 May 2008 (2008-05-27) (aged 107) Bad Mergentheim , Baden-Wurttemberg , Germany
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary Hungary
Years of service	February 1918?1921, 1942
Unit	Mounted Artillery Regiment
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Other work	Museum guide

Franz Kunstler ( Hungarian : Kunstler Ferenc , 24 July 1900 ? 27 May 2008) was, at age 107, the last known surviving veteran of the First World War who fought for the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Following the death of 110-year-old Ottoman veteran Yakup Satar on 2 April 2008, he was also the last Central Powers veteran of any nationality. He was born in Sosd, in the Kingdom of Hungary , now M?ureni , Romania.

Military career [ edit ]

A Banat Swabian , Kunstler enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian Army at Szeged in February 1918 in a field artillery regiment ( HFKR 5. k.u. Feldkanonen-Regiment/ - 5. honved tabori agyusezred ). He saw combat on the Italian Front on the Piave River . ^[1] Following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he fought against the communists in Hungary, and was a soldier until 1921. During the Second World War , he served six months in 1942 as a mobile courier in Ukraine .

Following World War II , Kunstler lived in Niederstetten , Baden-Wurttemberg , West Germany , and worked as a guide in a museum. He had been expelled from Hungary by the communist government, as had many other ethnic Germans . ^{[2] [3]}

Asked about his nationality, Kunstler said he always felt connected to the German nation and saw himself as a German. He was a Hungarian citizen until 1946, when he obtained German citizenship. In an interview given at the age of 107 to an Austrian magazine, Kunstler was asked about "the most important thing in life". He answered: "I was a handsome man and had many women. But more important is to have a good wife, with whom one can share one's life." ^[4]

Death [ edit ]

With the February 2008 death of 107-year-old Georg Thalhofer, who had been physically unfit for World War I service, Kunstler became the oldest living man in Germany. ^[5] He died of complications from intestinal surgery in Bad Mergentheim after having fallen ill while visiting his native Hungary .

See also [ edit ]

• List of last surviving World War I veterans by country

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Franz Kunstler at Find a Grave