BERLIN, May 28 (RIA Novosti) - Germany's oldest man, believed to be the country's last World War I veteran, has died at the age of 107, the German Der Spiegel magazine said on Wednesday.
Franz Kuenstler, who was born on July 24, 1900 in Soost, in present-day Romania, died on Tuesday following an operation in the southwest German town of Niederstetten.
During World War I, Kuenstler fought for Germany in the Austro-Hungarian army. He was drafted into the 1st Artillery Regiment in February 1918, nine months before the end of the war, and fought in Italy.
Since 1946, Kuenstler had lived in Niederstetten and had been employed as a guide at the town's museum of hunting for many years.
The world's other last surviving World War I veterans live in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Italy, Canada and Turkey.
