Franz Künstler

Franz Künstler
Allegiance	Austria-Hungary
Years of service	February 1918 – 1942
Unit	Mounted Artillery Regiment
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Other work	Museum guide

Franz Künstler (July 24, 1900 – May 27, 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 April 2, 2008, he is also the last Central Powers veteran of any nationality. He was born in Soost, then Kingdom of Hungary, now Romania. A German Hungarian, he joined the Austro-Hungarian army in February 1918 for training in a field artillery regiment (HFKR 5. k.u. Feldkanonen-Regiment/ - 5. honvéd tábori ágyúsezred), and served at the Italian front until 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 Ukraine.

Künstler lived in Niederstetten, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and 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. In an interview given to an Austrian magazine in 2008 at the age of 107, he 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."

After the death of fellow 107-year-old Georg Thalhofer in February 2008, Künstler became the oldest living man in Germany.

See also

• Last surviving World War I veteran by country
• Veterans of the First World War who died in 2008