| Franz Kunstler | |
 | |
| Birth: | 24 July 1900 Soost, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary) |
| Death: | 27 May 2008 Niederstetten, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany |
| Age: | 107 years, 308 days |
| Country: |  ROU GER
|
| Centenarian | |
Franz Kunstler (German: Künstler) (24 July 1900 – 27 May 2008) was the last known surviving veteran of the First World War who fought with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Biography
Franz Kunstler was born in Soost, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary) on 24 July 1900. He joined the Austro-Hungarian army in February 1918 for training in a mounted artillery regiment, and served at the Italian front in November 1918.[1] After the war, he fought against the communists, and was a soldier until 1921. In the Second World War, Künstler served six months in 1942 as a mobile courier in the Ukraine.
Künstler spent his later years in Niederstetten, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and long worked as a guide in a museum. After the Second World War, he was expelled from Hungary like many other ethnic Germans.[2][3]
Asked about his nationality, Franz Künstler said that he feels connected to the German nation and sees himself as a German. He was a Hungarian citizen until 1946, at which time he obtained German citizenship.
Franz Kunstler died in Niederstetten, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany on 27 May 2008 at the age of 107 years, 308 days.
References
| Germany's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E) |
|
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 Gerneth • Heinrich Homann • Hans Schornack • Karlheinz Stauber • Karl Haidle • |