| Franz Kunstler | |
 | |
| Birth: | 24 July 1900 Sosd, Austria-Hungary (present-day Sosdea, Romania) |
| 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 Sosd, Austria-Hungary (present-day Sosdea, Romania) 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. 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.
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
- Voici le nom des derniers vétérans connus DersDesDers
- Franz Künstler, Veteran of 2 Wars, Dies at 107 Breaking News, 30 May 2008
- Franz Kuenstler Find A Grave
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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 • |