- Feb 2 Daniil Kharms [Yuvatchov], Russian surrealist and absurdist writer, poet, and playwright, dies of starvation during the siege of Leningrad at 36
- Feb 6 Wobbe de Vries, Dutch linguist, dies at 78
- Feb 7 Dorando di Desiderio Pietri, marathoner (Olympic gold 1908), dies at 56
- Feb 7 Ivan Bilibin, Russian illustrator, dies at 65
- Feb 8 Fritz Todt, German Reichs minister (Organization Todt), dies in a plane crash at 50
- Feb 9 Lauri Kristian Relander, 2nd President of Finland (1925-31), dies at 58
- Feb 12 Grant Wood, American painter (American Gothic), dies at 50
- Feb 13 Epitácio Pessoa, 11th President of Brazil (Minas Gerais Republican: 1919-22), dies at 76
- Feb 14 Adnan Bin Saidi, Officer of the Malay Regiment killed in the defense of Singapore (b. 1915)
- Feb 15 Guido Adler, Bohemian-Austrian musicologist (Still in the Music), dies at 91
- Feb 15 Stanislav Binički, Serbian composer, dies at 69
- Feb 18 Albert Payson Terhune, American author (b. 1872)
- Feb 19 Frank Abbandando, American gangster (executed) (b. 1910)
- Feb 20 Guido Gasperini, Italian composer, dies at 76
- Feb 23 Stefan Zweig, Austrian poet, essayist and dramatist (Beware of Pity), dies at 60
- Feb 24 Anton Drexler, German politician and founder of the German Worker's Party, dies at 57
- Feb 25 Leo Ascher, Austrian-born composer who moved to the US, dies at 61
- Feb 27 Karel Doorman, Dutch rear-admiral (Java Sea), KIA at 52
- Feb 27 Martha McChesney Berry, American educator who founded Berry School for Children, dies at 75