Franz K�nstler 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 was also the last Central Powers veteran of any nationality. He was born in S�sd, in the Kingdom of Hungary. A Banat German, K�nstler enlisted the Austro-Hungarian Army at Szeged in February 1918 in a field artillery regiment. He saw combat on the Italian front on the Piave River. 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, K�nstler lived in Niederstetten, Baden-W�rttemberg, 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. Asked about his nationality, K�nstler 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. 

July 24th, 1900 in ?o?dea  /  Died:   May 27th, 2008 - aged 107