- Jan 1 Andrew Summers Rowan, American military officer who gave "a message to Garcia", dies at 5
- Jan 3 Sir Walter James, Premier of Western Australia, dies at 79 (b. 1863)
- Jan 4 Marina Raskova, Russian navigator, dies in airplane crash at 30
George Washington Carver
Jan 5 George Washington Carver, African-American agricultural scientist (studied the peanut), dies at 81
Nikola Tesla
Jan 7 Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist (tesla motor), dies at 86
- Jan 7 George Washington Crile, American surgeon (conducted the first direct blood transfusion and studied the effects of surgical shock), dies at 78
- Jan 8 Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author (The Last Enemy), dies in a crash during a night training at 23
- Jan 9 Robin G Collingwood, English philosopher (Roman Britain), dies at 53
- Jan 11 Agustín Pedro Justo, President of Argentina (1932-38) during the Infamous Decade, dies at 66
- Jan 11 Carlo Tresca, NY's Italian newspaper editor/anti-fascist, murdered
- Jan 12 Jan Campert, Dutch resistance fighter and poet (18 Dead), dies at 40
- Jan 12 Frank Alvord Perret, American volcanologist renowned for his research at Vesuvius, Etna, Stromboli and Kilauea dies at 75
- Jan 13 Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss artist dies of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning at 53
- Jan 16 Franz Courtens, Flemish painter (Sunny Lane), dies at 88
- Jan 24 John Burns, British minister of Local Government (1905-14), dies
- Jan 26 Nikolai Vavilov, Soviet botanist and geneticist (identified the centers of origin of cultivated plants), dies at 55
- Jan 26 Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880)
- Feb 3 Alexander Goode, American US Navy chaplain and rabbi (The Four Chaplains) drowns in the sinking of the Dorchester at 31 [1]
- Feb 3 Clark Poling, American US Army chaplain and Protestant minister (The Four Chaplains) drowns in the sinking of the Dorchester at 32 [1]
- Feb 3 John Washington, American US Army chaplain and Catholic priest (The Four Chaplains) drowns in the sinking of the Dorchester at 34 [1]
- Feb 3 George Fox, American US Army chaplain and Methodist minister (The Four Chaplains) drowns in the sinking of the Dorchester at 42 [1]
- Feb 5 Wim Gertenbach, Dutch resistance fighter (Slogan), shot by Nazis
- Feb 6 HA Seyffardt, Dutch lt-gen/NSB "minister", dies at 71
- Feb 9 World War II: Dutch fascist official Hermannus Reydon and his wife are shot by resistance members, his wife dies immediately and he dies six months later
- Feb 10 Wa'er, shot dead by Defiance
- Feb 13 William Walraven, Dutch journalist and writer (Neglected Grouser), dies at 55
- Feb 14 David Hilbert, German mathematician (Hilbert spaces, invariant theory, axiomatization of geometry, dies at 81
- Feb 17 Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (b. 1872)
- Feb 18 Henri Polak, Dutch union leader/politician (soc-dem), dies at 74
- Feb 22 Christoph Probst, German resistance fighter (That Weisse Rose), dies
- Feb 22 Hans Scholl, German resistance fighter (White Rose), beheaded for treason at 24
- Feb 22 Sophie Scholl, German anti-Nazi political activist, active in the non-violent resistance group, the White Rose (Die Weisse Rose), beheaded by guillotine at 21
- Feb 26 Theodor Eicke, German Nazi official who developed the concentration camps, killed at 50 when his plane shot down
- Feb 27 Kostis Palamas, Greek poet, twice nominated for the Nobel prize (b. 1859)
- Mar 2 Alexandre Yersin, Swiss French bacteriologist (discovered bubonic plague bacillus), dies at 79
- Mar 4 Nikolaos "Sokrates" Politis, Greek foreign minister, dies at 71
- Mar 4 Pieter C. Boutens, Dutch poet (Beatrijs), dies at 73
- Mar 12 Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor, dies at 73
- Mar 13 Stephen Vincent Benét, American author (b. 1898)
- Mar 13 J. P. Morgan, Jr. [John Pierpont], American financier and son of J.P. Morgan, Sr., (J.P. Morgan & Co.), dies of a stroke at 75
- Mar 19 Frank Nitti, American gangster (b. 1883)
- Mar 23 Andre Lichtenberger, French Sudan writer (Le Petit Roi), dies at 72
- Mar 26 Ben Lindsey, American judge and social reformer, dies at 73
- Mar 27 Grigori Yakovlevich Bakhchivangi, test pilot (BI-1), killed in crash
- Mar 30 Jan Bytnar, Polish activist (b. 1921)
- Mar 30 Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski, Polish activist (b. 1920)
- Apr 4 Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor and choreographer (Triadisches Ballett), dies at 54
- Apr 5 Aleš Hrdlička, Austro-Hungarian anthropologist and curator (US National Museum), dies at 74
- Apr 7 Jovan Ducic, Serbian poet (Blue Legends), dies at 72
- Apr 7 Alexandre Millerand, President of France (b. 1859)
- Apr 8 Paul Colin, Belgian journalist/collaborator, executed
- Apr 14 Asser B. Kleerekoper, Dutch SDAP-Second-Member of parliament, dies at 62
- Apr 15 Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist, dies at 61
Isoroku Yamamoto
Apr 18 Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese WWII Marshall Admiral & Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese fleet who led the attack on Pearl Harbor, killed in action at 59 by a US ambush after the "Magic" code-breaking team intercepted and decoded his flight plan
- Apr 19 Alexander Schmorell, German resistance fighter, beheaded
- Apr 19 Willy Graf, German resistance fighter, beheaded
- Apr 24 Gerardus H de Hare, socialist vicar, dies at 63
- Apr 29 Sidney Keyes, English poet (Foreign Gate), dies fighting during WWII at 20
- Apr 30 Beatrice Potter Webb, British sociologist, economist (founded London School of Economics) and writer (My Apprenticeship), dies at 85
- Apr 30 Etty Hillesum, Dutch diarist, dies in Auschwitz
- Apr 30 Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist, dies at 82
- May 1 Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian Christian leader who founded the evangelical Brunstad Christian Church, dies at 71
- May 5 Gordon Hewart, British judge "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done" (Lord Chief Justice 1922-40), dies at 73
Mordecai Anielewicz
May 8 Mordecai Anielewicz, Jewish commander of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, suspected to have committed suicide at 24 rather than surrender to Nazi troops that had surrounded his command bunker
- May 10 Andre Bertulot, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
- May 10 Arnaud/Armand Fraiteur, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
- May 10 Maurice-Albert Raskin, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
- May 11 Szmul Zygielbojm, Jewish-Polish socialist politician (Bund) and activist, commits suicide to protest Allied indifference to the Holocaust during WWII at 48
- May 14 Henri La Fontaine, Belgian international lawyer (1st Socialist to win Nobel Peace Prize 1913), dies at 89
- May 16 Alfred Hoche, German psychiatrist (b. 1865)
- May 19 Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter and one of the founders of the Estonian National Museum, dies at 77
- May 22 Helen Herron Taft, American First lady (1909-13) wife of President William Howard Taft, planted Washington's cherry trees, dies at 81
- May 24 Vladimir I Nemirovitch-Dantshenko, Russian playwright, dies at 84
- May 25 Nils Dardel, Swedish post-impressionist painter, dies at 54
- May 26 Edsel Ford, American President of Ford Motor Company (1919-1943) and son of Henry Ford, dies of stomach cancer aged 49
- Jun 1 Wilfrid B. Israel, Jewish activist
- Jun 3 Folkert Posthuma, Dutch Minister of Agriculture, assassinated at 69
- Jun 6 Karl Landsteiner, Austrian immunologist and pathologist (Nobel 1930), dies at 74
- Jun 13 Kočo Racin, Macedonian poet (b. 1908)
- Jun 26 Fritz Schmidt, German Commissioner-General for Political Affairs and Propaganda (Netherlands, 1940-43), commits suicide at 39
- Jul 1 Auguste Reitsma, Dutch resistance fighter (census director), executed
- Jul 1 C Bakker, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 1 C L Barentsen, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 1 Coos Hartogh, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 1 Cor Roos, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 1 Henri Halberstadt, Dutch resistance fighter (census dir), executed
- Jul 1 Johan Brouwer, hispanist/writer/Dutch resistance fighter, executed
- Jul 1 Koen Limperg, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 1 Sam Bloemgarten, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 1 Willem Arondeus, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 1 Willem Brouwer, Dutch resistance fighter (census bureau), executed
- Jul 2 Caroline Yale, American educator who revolutionized the teaching of hearing-impaired students, dies at 84
- Jul 4 Władysław Sikorski, Polish World War II general and Prime Minister of Poland in exile (1939-43), killed in a plane crash at 62
- Jul 8 Harry Oakes, Canadian ruler of Bahamas, murdered
- Jul 8 Jean Moulin, French hero of the Résistance during World War II, executed at 44
- Jul 8 Guillermo Valencia, Colombian poet, translator and statesman, dies at 69
- Jul 9 Clifford Whittingham Beers, American mental hygiene pioneer, dies at 67
- Jul 13 Kurt Huber, German philosopher and resistance fighter, beheaded at 50
- Jul 17 Sir Patrick Duncan, Governor-general of the Union of South Africa (1937 to 1943), dies at 72
- Jul 18 Harry Pace, American music label owner (Black Swan - 1st major label founded by a Black American), dies at 59
- Jul 23 Emanuel Querido, Dutch author and publisher (N.V. Em. Querido Uitgeversmaatschappij), murdered in the Nazi extermination camp at Sobibor at 71
- Aug 1 Ismar Elbogen, German/US learned/rabbi (Jewish Lexicon), dies at 68
- Aug 5 Adam Kuckhoff, German writer and resistance fighter, is executed during WWII at 55
- Aug 7 Gustav Schmidt, German lt-general, dies in battle
- Aug 10 C Bergsma, Dutch resistance fighter (Waalsdorpervlakte), dies
- Aug 10 J Janzen, Dutch resistance fighter (Waalsdorpervlakte), dies
- Aug 10 J Posthuma, Dutch resistance fighter (Waalsdorpervlakte), dies
- Aug 18 Hans Jeschonnek, German air force general/chief-staff, commits suicide
- Aug 18 Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general, dies at 78
- Aug 21 Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer (Peter Gelukkige, Nobel 1917), dies at 86
- Aug 24 Ernst Ottwalt, writer, dies
- Aug 24 Simone Weil, French philosopher and social activist (b. 1909)
- Aug 25 Johan Petter Johansson, Swedish inventor and industrialist (modern adjustable spanner), dies at 86
- Aug 27 Otto Selz, German psychologist, dies at 62
- Aug 28 Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria (1918-43), dies at 49
- Aug 30 A[braham] Merritt, American sci-fi author (The Moon Pool, Burn Witch Bun), dies from a heart attack at 58
- Aug 30 Eustáquio van Lieshout, Dutch priest and missionary in Brazil, dies at 52
- Sep 1 Charles Atangana, Cameroonian chief (b. 1880)
- Sep 23 Elinor Glyn, English author (b. 1864)
- Sep 30 Franz Oppenheimer, German sociologist (b. 1864)
- Oct 1 Antoine T Broekman, resistance fighter, executed at 32
- Oct 1 Anton JT Koreman, resistance fighter, executed at 27
- Oct 1 Antoon Pleyte, resistance fighter, executed at 26
- Oct 1 Earnest Klijzing, resistance fighter, executed
- Oct 1 Gideon Boissevain, resistance fighter, executed at 22
- Oct 1 Hans Katan, resistance fighter, executed at 24
- Oct 1 Henri H Geul, resistance fighter, executed at 27
- Oct 1 Johan Kalshoven, resistance fighter, executed at 20
- Oct 1 Johan Roemer, resistance fighter, executed at 22
- Oct 1 Johan van Mierlo, resistance fighter, executed at 35
- Oct 1 John Charles Boissevain, resistance fighter, executed at 23
- Oct 1 Leo Frijda, resistance fighter, executed at 20
- Oct 1 Louis Boissevain, resistance fighter, executed at 21
- Oct 1 Maarten van/of Gilse, resistance fighter, executed at 27
- Oct 1 Olaf T Thomsen, resistance fighter, executed at 23
- Oct 1 Peter "Pam" Pooters, resistance fighter, executed at 32
- Oct 1 Sape Kuiper, resistance fighter, executed at 19
- Oct 1 Victor van Swieten, resistance fighter, executed at 36
- Oct 1 Walter Brandligt, literature/resistance fighter, executed at 42
- Oct 4 Richard T. Ely, American economist and author (Ground under our feet), dies at 89
- Oct 4 Irena Iłłakowicz, Polish agent of Intelligence, dies at 37
- Oct 6 Robert Cooper, father of Card pitcher Mort & catcher Walker, dies
- Oct 7 Radclyffe Hall, British author (b. 1880)
- Oct 9 Gerard W Kerncamp, historian/editor-in-chief (Green Amsterdam), dies
- Oct 9 Jan Dieters, Dutch politician and resistance fighter who was the head of the Communist Party of the Netherlands, executed at 42
- Oct 9 Lou Jansen, leader of illegal Dutch political party (CPN), executed
- Oct 9 Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist (Nobel Prize 1902 for Zeeman effect), dies at 78
- Oct 9 Gerard Wilhelm Kernkamp, Dutch historian and editor (Groene Amsterdammer), dies at 78
- Oct 10 Charlotte Salomon, German-Jewish artist gassed at Auschwitz aged 26
- Oct 17 Stefan Starzyński, Polish politician (b. 1893)
- Oct 18 A. M. de Jong, Dutch writer (World Tour of Bulletje & Bonestaak), dies at 55
- Oct 18 Benedictus H. Danser, Dutch taxonomist and botanist, dies at 52
- Oct 21 Dudley Pound, British admiral of the fleet and 1st Sea Lord (Jutland, WW II), dies at 66
- Oct 24 Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, French Canadian poet (Regards et jeux dans l'espace), dies at 31
- Oct 25 H van Zanten, guerrilla leader on North Sumatra, executed
- Oct 26 Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian-British archaeologist, dies at 80
- Oct 27 Isidor Traube, German Chemist (founded capillary chemistry, research on liquids), dies at 83
- Oct 31 Max Reinhardt [Goldmann], Austrian theatrical director (Oedipus Rex) and founder of the Salzburg Festival, dies at 70
- Nov 5 Louis Schelfhout, Dutch painter and graphic artist, dies at 62
- Nov 9 Bernhard Lichtenberg, German clergyman and theologian, dies at 67
- Nov 16 Marcel Verhamme, Belgian resistance fighter, executed
- Nov 24 Martin Raschke, German author and publisher dies at 38
- Nov 24 Reina Prince Geerligs [Leentjes Vandendriesch], anti-fascist, dies
- Nov 24 Doris Miller, American navy cook (b. 1919)
- Nov 26 Edward H "Butch" O'hare, US pilot/lt-comdr, dies in battle
- Nov 27 Ivo Lola Ribar, Croatian communist and partisan, killed by a German bomb at 27
- Dec 1 Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince, son of King Mongkut and brother of King Chulalongkorn and historian, dies at 81
- Dec 2 Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian poet, dramatist and novelist (The Defeat), dies at 41
- Dec 4 Carlo Mierendorff, German politician and anti-fascist, dies at 46
- Dec 6 Firmin Baes, Flemish painter, dies at 69
- Dec 14 John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon and nutritionist, inspired flaked cereal industry, dies at 91
Beatrix Potter
Dec 22 Beatrix Potter, English children's writer and illustrator (The Tale of Peter Rabbit,) dies aged 77
