- Jan 1 Vit Nejedly, Czech composer, dies at the front during WWII at 33
- Jan 2 Betram Home Ramsay, Engl admiral (Normandy), dies at 61
- Jan 3 Théodore "Fyodor" Akimenko, Ukrainian composer, dies at 68
- Jan 3 Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
- Jan 3 Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer (Lenin: God of the Godless), dies at 68
- Jan 6 Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist (b. 1863)
- Jan 6 Edith Frank, mother of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank, dies from starvation at the age of 44
- Jan 8 Jac[obus] P. Thijsse, Dutch biologist and educator (Omgang met planten), dies at 79
- Jan 8 Karl Krafft, Swiss astrologer who was manipulated by the Nazi regime (b. 1900)
- Jan 9 Jüri Uluots, Estonian Prime Minister (b. 1890)
- Jan 10 Rudolf Borchardt, writer, dies at 67
- Jan 14 Sándor Vándor, Hungarian Jewish composer, murdered in the Holocaust at 43 [1]
- Jan 16 Dennis Donnini, British rifleman (Victoria Cross), dies in battle at 19
- Jan 19 Ernest B Allo, French theologist, dies at 71
- 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 Carlo Felice Boghen, composer, dies a day before 76th birthday
- Jan 22 Johan Eykman, theologist (World Church), dies at 52
- Jan 22 Else Lasker-Schuler, German-born poet (b. 1869)
- Jan 23 Helmuth J Moltke, German politician ("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