Erich Kästner (World War I veteran)

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Erich Kästner
March 10, 1900(1900-03-10) – January 1, 2008 (aged 107)

Place of birth	Leipzig-Schönefeld, Germany
Place of death	Cologne, Germany
Allegiance	Germany
Service/branch	Königlich-Sächsische Armee
Years of service	July 1918 – November 1918 1939 – 1945
Rank	Private (WWI) Major (WWII)
Unit	Sonder-Bataillon Hauck (WWI) Luftwaffe (WWII)
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Lower Saxony Merit Cross
Other work	Judge

Dr. Erich Kästner (March 10, 1900 – January 1, 2008) at the time of his death was one of the last surviving veterans of the First World War, as well as the last known surviving World War I veteran who fought for the German Empire (including all nationalities and ethnic groups), the last known surviving World War I veteran born in Germany, and at the age of 107 he was the second-oldest man in Germany (the oldest one did not serve).

Kästner was not the last surviving World War I veteran living in Germany, at the time of his death. Instead, Franz Künstler was the last known surviving German citizen who was a veteran of World War I. Although Künstler, as an ethnic German born in Hungary, he fought for the Austro-Hungarian Empire and not the German Empire, then he migrated to Germany in 1946 and he subsequently became a German citizen.

Born in Leipzig-Schönefeld in 1900, Kästner joined the German Army in July 1918, in the "Sonder-Bataillon Hauck" (unsure information^[1]), and served on the Western Front in Flanders. It is said that he marched in a parade in front of Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1918 (unsure information^[1]). He rejoined the military in 1939 and during the Second World War was a Major serving as ground support for the Luftwaffe, mostly in France.^[2]

Kästner earned a doctorate degree in law from University of Jena in 1924 with a dissertation on Das landwirtschaftliche Pachtwesen und die Pachtschutzordnung unter besonderer Beleuchtung der Verhältnisse des früheren Großherzogtums Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (The legal institute of agricultural leasehold and the leasehold protection act with special regard to the situation in the former Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach). He subsequently worked as a judge at the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht), for which work he was awarded the Lower Saxony Merit Cross, 1st Class.^[2] Kästner was also honored by Germany's president because of his 75-year marriage with his wife Maria, who died in 2003 at the age of 102, soon after the celebration.^[2] Both had lived in Hanover since 1945. Some months before his death, he moved to a retirement home in Pulheim near Cologne.^[1]