Famous People Who Died in 1945

Jan 21 Rash Behari Bose, Indian revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India, dies at 58
Jan 22 Alfred Wolfenstein, German writer, dies at 61
Jan 22 Arthur Symons, Welsh poet and critic (co-founder Savoy magazine), dies at 79
Jan 22 Carlo Felice Boghen, composer, dies a day before 76th birthday
Jan 22 Else Lasker-Schuler, German-born poet (b. 1869)
Jan 22 Johan Eykman, theologist (World Church), dies at 52
Jan 23 Helmuth James von Moltke, German jurist who opposed Nazi (July 20th Plot), executed at 37
Jan 27 Antal Szerb, Hungarian author and historian, dies at 43
Jan 27 Gideon Klein, Moravian pianist and composer, dies in a Nazi labor camp at 26 (date approximate)
Jan 30 Gottlieb Haberlandt, Austrian botanist, dies at 90
Jan 30 William Busch, British composer, dies at 43
Jan 31 Eddie Slovik, 1st US executed for desertion since Civil War at 25
Feb 1 Johan Huizinga, Dutch culture historian (Homo Ludens), dies at 72
Feb 2 Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German Leipzig mayor and Nazi regime opponent (20th July plot), hanged at 60
Feb 2 Joe Hunt, American tennis player (US National C'ship 1943), dies in fighter plane crash during training at 25
Feb 3 José Roló, Mexican composer, dies at 61
Feb 3 Roland Freisler, German Nazi judge (July 20th plotter case) and politician, dies at 51
Feb 5 Violette Szabo, French WWII secret agent, is executed by Nazis at 23
Feb 6 Jan Bos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed
Feb 6 Paul Bos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed

Feb 6 Robert Brasillach, French author and journalist (editor in chief of the fascist weekly Je Suis Partout), controversially executed for treason by firing squad at 35
Feb 9 George Maduro, Dutch Antillian resistance fighter (Madurodam), dies in Dachau at 28
Feb 10 Anacleto Diaz, Filipino jurist (b. 1878)
Feb 11 Al Dubin, Swiss-American song lyricist ("Tiptoe Through The Tulips"; "I Only Have Eyes For You"), dies at 53 [1]
Feb 11 J S H Lokerman, Dutch resistance fighter, dies in Neugengamme
Feb 12 Antonio Villa-Real, Filipino jurist (b. 1880)
Feb 12 Henrietta Szold, founder (Hadassah, Youth Aliyah), dies
Feb 12 Walraven van Hall, Dutch banker who led resistance against Nazis, executed by the Nazis at 39
Feb 13 George Studd, English cricket batsman (4 Tests; Middlesex), dies at 85
Feb 16 Rudolf Vornlund, Swedish playwright (Upproret), dies at 45
Feb 18 Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Russian general (youngest ever Soviet general of the army), dies at 38
Feb 19 John Basilone, American Marine (Medal of Honor at the Battle for Henderson Field), is killed in action at Iwo Jima at 26
Feb 19 Wim Speelman, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at 26

Anne Frank (1929-1945)

Feb 21 Dutch diarist and Jewish victim of the Nazi Holocaust (Diary of Anne Frank), dies of typhus in the Belsen concentration camp at 15 [estimate - exact date undocumented] [1]

Feb 21 Eric Liddell, Scottish 400m runner (Olympic gold 1924) and Christian missionary in China, dies of an inoperable brain tumor at 43 while interned at the Weihsien Internment Camp in Weifang, Shandong, China
Feb 22 Osip Brik, Russian writer (b. 1888)
Feb 23 Aleksei Tolstoi, Russian poet and writer (Pjotr Peroyj), dies at 62
Feb 23 Aubrey Cousins, Canadian sergeant (Victoria Cross), dies in battle
Feb 24 Ahmed Maher Pasha, Egypt's PM, assassinated in parliament
Feb 25 Mário de Andrade, Brazilian writer, photographer and modernist, dies of a heart attack at 51
Feb 27 HJ Lochtman, Dutch chaplain/resistance fighter, dies in Bergen-Belsen
Feb 28 Rudolf Breslauer, German Jewish photographer (documented Westerbork transit camp), killed at Auschwitz at 41
Mar 2 Emily Carr, Canadian painter, dies at 73
Mar 3 Arthur Vanderpoorten, Belgian politician (Minister of Internal Affairs 1940), dies at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at 61
Mar 3 Jacobus H "Koos" Speenhoff, Dutch cabaret singer, killed in the RAF's bombing of the Bezuidenhout at 75
Mar 4 Lucille La Verne, American actress (b. 1872)
Mar 4 Mark Sandrich [Goldstein], American film director, writer and producer (The Gay Divorcee; Top Hat; Holiday Inn), dies of a heart attack at 44
Mar 5 Lena Baker, American murderer, convicted of capital murder of her employer, Ernest Knight, dies at 44
Mar 6 Jan Thijssen, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at Savage Farm
Mar 6 Rudolf Karel, Czech composer (Three Hairs of the Wise Old Man), dies of dysentery and pneumonia while in Theresienstadt concentration camp at 64
Mar 7 Adolf Bartels, German journalist and poet, dies at 82
Mar 8 H J Jamin, Dutch resistance fighter, dies in Buchenwald
Mar 8 Jan Beekes, resistance fighter, executed at 26
Mar 13 Herbert Bedford, English author and composer, dies at 78
Mar 15 Herman Bernard Wiardi Beckman, Dutch resistance fighter and politician (SDAP), dies at Dachau concentration camp at 41
Mar 16 Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
Mar 16 Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, French writer and poet (Gilles), commits suicide at 52
Mar 18 William Grover-Williams, British racing driver
Mar 19 Clyde Hart, American swing and bebop jazz piano player and arranger (Stuff Smith; Lionel Hampton; Roy Eldridge), dies of tuberculosis at 35
Mar 19 Fritz Fromm, German supreme commander of Reserve army, executed
Mar 21 Arthur Nebe, German SS officer, dies at 50
Mar 21 J Woortman, Dutch resistance fighter, dies in Bergen-Belsen at 39
Mar 22 J Postuma, Dutch resistance fighter, dies
Mar 24 (Jevon) "Jeff" Nicklin, Canadian CFL football player,1934-40 (Winnipeg Blue Bombers), and Army paratrooper officer killed in action at 30
Mar 24 Thomas Rennie, Gen-Maj (Dutch command 51st Highland Division), dies
Mar 26 Boris Shaposhnikov, Russian military commander, dies at 62

David Lloyd George (1863-1945)

Mar 26 British Prime Minister (Liberal: 1916-22), dies of cancer at 82

Mar 26 Isaack Stouten, Dutch resistance fighter, shot to death at 29
Mar 27 Jorgen Nielsen, Danish writer (romance), dies at 42
Mar 29 Ferenc Csik, Hungarian swimmer (Olympics gold medal 100m freestyle 1936), dies of war wounds at 31
Mar 29 Karl T Sapper, German geographer/geologist (Vulkankunde), dies at 79
Mar 30 Karel Moor, Czech composer and conductor, dies at 71

Hans Fischer (1881-1945)

Mar 31 German organic chemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1930), commits suicide at 63

Mar 31 Hans Riegel Sr., German sweet inventor (founder of Haribo), dies at 51
Mar 31 Maurice Donnay, French playwright (Lovers), dies at 85
Mar 31 Maurice Rose, 1st US general in Nazi Germany, killed in action at 45
Apr 3 Josef Weinheber, Austrian poet and writer (Vienna Verbatim), dies at 43
Apr 5 Karl Otto Koch, German SS officer who was commandant at Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Majdanek concentration camps, is executed by the SS for corruption at 47
Apr 6 Benjamin Marius Telders, Dutch lawyer who resisted German occupation in WWII, dies of typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at 42
Apr 9 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor, theologist (Confessing Church) and anti-Nazi dissident, hung by the Nazi government at 39
Apr 9 Georg Elser, German failed assassin of Hitler, dies at Dachau concentration camp at 42
Apr 9 Hans Oster, German major general, spy and "July 20th plot", hanged at 57
Apr 9 Hans von Dohnanyi, "July 20th plotter", hanged
Apr 9 Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral and head of Germany military intelligence, hanged by the Nazi regime for treason at 58
Apr 10 Charles Nordhoff, English-born writer (b. 1887)
Apr 10 Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch artist (The Blue Barge) and resistance fighter, executed by the Nazis at 63
Apr 11 Frederick Lugard, British Colonial administrator, mercenary and explorer (Governor of Nigeria and Hong Kong), dies at 87
Apr 11 Kamiel van Baelen, Flemish author and resistance fighter (Mensch op Weg), dies at 29

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

Apr 12 32nd US President (Democrat: 1933-1945), dies in office with the war almost won of a stroke at 63

Apr 13 Ernst Cassirer, German philosopher & educator (Essay on Man), dies at 70
Apr 17 Hannie Schaft, Dutch communist resistance fighter known as the "Girl with red hair", executed at 24
Apr 17 Ion Pillat, Romanian poet and senator (Umbra timpului), dies at 54
Apr 17 Walter Model, German WWII field marshal, commits suicide at 54
Apr 18 Ernie Pyle, American journalist and war correspondent during WW II (Pulitzer Prize, 1944), killed by enemy fire in the South Pacific during Battle of Okinawa at 44
Apr 18 John Ambrose Fleming, English electrical engineer & physicist (right-hand and left-hand rules), dies at 95
Apr 19 J P Heyboer, resistance fighter, executed
Apr 21 John Poston, British major/Montgomery's ADC, dies in battle at 25
Apr 22 Kathe Kollwitz, German print maker and sculptor (Bauernkrieg), dies at 77
Apr 23 Albrecht Haushofer, German geographer, writer and member of the German Resistance to Nazism, shot by Nazi SS troopers at 42
Apr 24 Anton de Kom, Surinamese resistance fighter, dies of tuberculosis in a Nazi concentration camp at 47
Apr 24 Antoon Schweigmann, Dutch religious poet and resistance fighter, dies at 51
Apr 24 Hubert Bath, British film composer and music director, dies at 61
Apr 26 Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian politician & general, dies at 71
Apr 26 Sigmund Rascher, Nazi doctor, dies at 36

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)

Apr 28 Fascist Italian dictator (1922-43), shot by communist partisans at 61

Apr 28 Claretta Petacci, Italian mistress of Mussolini, executed at 33
Apr 28 Hans Bloesch, Swiss author, dies at 67
Apr 28 Roberto Farinacci, Italian fascist, dies at 52
Apr 29 Matthias Kleinheisterkamp, German SS officer (b. 1893)

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

Apr 30 Austrian-born German dictator and Führer of Nazi Germany (1936-45), commits suicide by shooting himself at 56

Apr 30 Eva Braun, German mistress and wife of Hitler, commits suicide by cyanide tablet at 33
May 1 Desider Antalffy-Zsiross, Hungarian organist and composer, dies at 59

May 1 German Nazi Minister of Propaganda, commits suicide aged 47 with his wife (43) and arranges the death of their 6 children, Heidrun (4), Hedwig (6), Holdine (8), Helmut (9), Hildegard (11), and Helga (12)

May 1 René Lalique, French jeweller (“the inventor of modern jewellery”) and glass designer, dies at 85 [1]
May 2 Ludwig Stumpfegger, German SS doctor and Hitler's personal surgeon commits suicide at 34

Martin Bormann (1900-1945)

May 2 German Nazi leader (Hitler's secretary, chief of the Party Chancellery), most likely commits suicide on this date at 44 [remains identified in 1972]

May 4 Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (commander in the German occupation of Austria, invasions of Poland, France, and Russia during WWII), dies at 64
May 5 Elsie Mitchell and five Sunday school students become the only people to die during World War II on US soil when they are killed by a Japanese fire balloon that lands in the forest of Gearhart Mountain, near Bly, Southern Oregon
May 5 Peter Van Pels, Jewish Refugee (b. 1926)
May 8 Bernhard Rust, German Nazi politician and Minister of Science, Education and National Culture (1934-45), reportedly commits suicide at 61
May 10 Richard Glücks, German SS officer and concentration camp administrator, committed suicide at 56
May 13 Alfred "Tubby" Hall, American jazz drummer (King Oliver; Louis Armstrong), dies at 49
May 14 Heber J. Grant, 7th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dies at 88
May 15 Charles Williams, British poet and writer, dies at 58
May 15 Major Courtney, US medal of honor marine, dies in battle of Sugar Loaf
May 17 Jan van Geenen, resistance fighter, dies
May 17 Sasaki Shigetsu Sokei-an, founder 1st Zen Institute of America, dies
May 19 Philipp Bouhler, German nazi leader (b. 1889)
May 22 Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, Dutch lithographer and wood carver, dies at 80

Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945)

May 23 German Nazi leader (head of the SS), commits suicide while in Allied custody at 44

May 25 Demjan Bednyi, Russian writer and satirist, dies at 62
May 30 Irma Laplasse, Flemish farmer/nazi collaborator, executed
Jun 4 Georg Kaiser, German playwright (The Burghers of Calais), dies at 66
Jun 6 Meinoud M Rost van Tonningen, Dutch Nazi collaborator (National Socialist Movement (1937-41), commits suicide at 51
Jun 7 Nishida Kitaro, Japanese philosopher (Kyoto School), dies at 74
Jun 7 Rubén M. Campos, Mexican novelist (Claudio Oranos) and musicologist (El folklore y la musica mexicana), dies at 69
Jun 8 Karl Hanke, Official of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) of Nazi Germany, dies at 41

Emil Hácha (1872-1945)

Jun 12 Czech politician (President of Czechoslovakia, 1938-9, State President of Bohemia and Moravia, 1939-1945), dies in prison in mysterious circumstances at 72

Jun 16 Aris Velouchiotis, Greek guerrilla resistance leader (b. 1905)
Jun 18 Florence Bascom, American geologist and 1st woman hired by the US Geological Survey, dies at 82
Jun 18 Harold C. Roberts, American commandant 22nd regiment marines (3 Navy Crosses), dies in battle during Okinawa campaign at 46
Jun 18 Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr, American Lieutenant General of 10th Army, dies in action during Battle of Okinawa at 58
Jun 20 Bruno Frank, German-born American writer, dies at 58
Jun 21 Josef Hora, Czech writer and poet (Sinking Shadows), dies at 53
Jun 22 Isamu Tsjo, Japanese chief-staff 32nd Army, commits harakiri
Jun 22 Mitsuri Ushijima, Japanese lt-gen/commandant 32nd Army, commits harakiri
Jun 23 Lt Gen Ushijima, Japanese commander, commits suicide at Okinawa
Jun 24 Jose Gutierrez Solana, Spanish painter and author (Madrid Escenas), dies at 59
Jun 26 Erno Rapee, American conductor and composer (Radio City Music Hall), dies at 54
Jun 26 Nikolay Tcherepnin, Russian composer of ballets, dies at 72

John Curtin (1885-1945)

Jul 5 Victoria, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (Labor: 1941-45), dies of heart disease at 60

Jul 7 Salomėja Nėris [Salomėja Bačinskaitė-Bučienė], Lithuanian poet, dies of cancer at 40
Jul 12 Boris Galerkin, Russian mathematician (b. 1871)
Jul 12 Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, German field marshal (German Air Force-WW II), dies at 49
Jul 17 Ernst Busch, German field marshal (WWII), dies at 60
Jul 19 George Barbier, American actor (Tarzan's Revenge, Wife vs Secretary), dies at 80
Jul 20 Arthur Seccull, South African cricketer (Test v England 1896), dies
Jul 20 Paul Valéry [Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry], French author, philosopher and poet (La Jeune Parque), dies at 73
Aug 2 Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek, Austrian composer (Donna Diana), dies at 85
Aug 2 Pietro Mascagni, Italian opera composer (Cavalleria Rusticana), dies at 81
Aug 6 Hiram Johnson, American progressive politician, US Senator, Governor of California (1911-17), dies at 78
Aug 6 Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912)
Aug 9 Harry Hillman, American athlete (3 Gold Olympic 1904), dies at 63

Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945)

Aug 10 American rocket pioneer (invented and built the first liquid-fueled rocket), dies of throat cancer at 62

Aug 15 Korechika Anami, Japanese War Minister (who opposed surrender in WWII), commits suicide a day after signing Japan's surrender at 58
Aug 16 Nico Richter, Dutch composer, dies at 29
Aug 16 Takijiro Ohnishi, led Japanese kamikaze pilots (harakiri), dies
Aug 17 Gino Marinuzzi, Sr., Italian opera conductor (Wagner; Puccini), and composer (Symphony in A), dies at 61
Aug 17 Pater Bleijs [Louis], Dutch catholic priest and resistance fighter in WWII, dies in car accident at 39
Aug 18 Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian revolutionary and nationalist, dies of injuries from a plane crash at 48
Aug 19 Tomas Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (founder of Villa Lo Burgos), dies at 69
Aug 20 Alexander Roda Roda, Austrian writer, dies at 73
Aug 22 Ida Henrietta Hyde, American physiologist who invented the micro-electrode and the first woman allowed to do research at Harvard Medical School and to be elected to the American Physiology Society, dies at 87
Aug 25 John Birch, American intelligence officer and missionary (b. 1918)
Aug 25 Willis Augustus Lee, American World War II admiral (Guadalcanal) and sport shooter (5 Olympic golds 1920), dies of a heart attack at 57 while being ferrying him out to his flagship USS Wyoming off the coast of Maine
Aug 26 Franz Werfel, Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet (Mirror Man, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh), dies at 54
Sep 1 Jacobus W G Balfoort, Dutch actor (Heimwee, Head On), dies at 57
Sep 5 Clem Hill, Australian cricket batsman and captain (49 Tests, 7 x 100, HS 191; South Australia CA), dies in a traffic accident at 68
Sep 6 John S. Mccain Snr., US admiral, (WW II-Pacific Ocean), dies of a heart attack at 61
Sep 10 Väinö Raitio, Finnish composer, dies at 54
Sep 15 André Tardieu, French politician, Prime Minister of France (1929-30, 1930, 1932), dies at 68
Sep 15 Anton von Webern, Austrian composer, shot by American soldier on patrol at 61
Sep 16 Johannes "Pa" van der Steur, Dutch missionary and philanthropist (Java), dies at 80
Sep 16 John McCormack, Irish-American tenor (Irish folksongs), dies at 61

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