Discover the most famous people died who died in the year 1945. This list includes people like Adolf Hitler, Anne Frank, Benito Mussolini, Subhas Chandra Bose, Heinrich Himmler and many more. This list of celebrities is loosely sorted by popularity. People featured on this list, include political leaders, soldiers, military leaders and poets who died in 1945. This list includes people from Germany, United States, Austria & Japan and many more countries.
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1
Adolf Hitler(Nazi Dictator and Chancellor of Germany (1933-1945))
Birthdate: April 20, 1889
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Braunau am Inn, Austria
Died: April 30
One of the most powerful leaders of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler was a German dicator whose policies started the WWII that resulted in the death of millions of people. He had a visceral hatred for Jews and during his regime nearly six million Jews were killed in Holocaust.
Birthdate: June 12, 1929
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Frankfurt, Germany
Died: March 12
One of the numerous Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Anne Frank gained recognition posthumously after her diary Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was published. The diary, which has been widely read and translated into numerous other languages, details the lives of Anne Frank and her family when they went into hiding for two years, after Germany occupied Netherlands.
Birthdate: January 30, 1882
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Hyde Park, New York, United States
Died: April 12
F D Roosevelt was the 32nd president of the United States and was in the office from 1933 to1945. Qualified as a lawyer, he entered politics as an ambitious young man, inspired by his relative Theodore Roosevelt, a fellow politician. F D Roosevelt had an illustrious political career and is rated by scholars among the nation's greatest presidents.
4
George Patton(One of the Most Successful Combat Generals in United States History)
Birthdate: November 11, 1885
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: San Gabriel, California, United States
Died: December 21
George Patton was a general of the US Army, remembered for his work as a commander of the Seventh United States Army during World War II. He is also remembered for commanding the Third Army in the Western Front in June 1944 after the Allied invasion of Normandy. His life and work inspired the 1970 epic biographical war film Patton.
Birthdate: January 23, 1897
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Cuttack, India
Died: August 18
An Indian nationalist known for his role in the country’s struggle for freedom from the British, Subhas Chandra Bose was a politician with radical views. He was part of the Indian National Congress in the late 1920s and 1930s. However, his association with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan made him a controversial figure.
Birthdate: November 4, 1916
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Buffalo, New York, United States
Died: February 19
John Basilone was a US Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who played a crucial role in the Battle for Henderson Field, for which he was honored with the Medal of Honor. Basilone died during the Battle of Iwo Jima and was posthumously honored with the Navy Cross, becoming the only enlisted Marine to receive these two decorations in World War II.
Birthdate: September 13, 1857
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Derry Township, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: October 13
Birthdate: February 4, 1906
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Wrocław, Poland
Died: April 9
Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer is remembered for his anti-Nazi stance, for establishing the Confessing Church, and for authoring the book The Cost of Discipleship. He was sent to the Flossenbürg concentration camp after being imprisoned for a year. He was eventually hanged after being charged of plotting to assassinate Hitler.
9
Eric Liddell(Scottish Sprinter, Rugby Player and Olympic Gold Medalist)
Birthdate: January 16, 1902
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Tianjin, China
Died: February 21
Eric Liddell was a Scottish athlete who won a gold medal in 400 meters race at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In his later years, he became a Christian missionary. Though he was of Scottish origin, he was born in China, where he spent most of his life and died eventually.
10
Bela Bartok(One of the Most Important Composers of the 20th Century)
Birthdate: March 25, 1881
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Sânnicolau Mare, Romania
Died: September 26
Bela Bartok was a Hungarian pianist, composer, and ethnomusicologist. Widely regarded as one of the 20th century's most prominent composers, Bartok is also counted among Hungary's greatest composers of all time. He is credited with co-founding comparative musicology, which came to be known as ethnomusicology.
Birthdate: August 4, 1912
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Lidingö, Sweden
Died: January 17
Swedish architect Raoul Wallenberg went down in history as a savior for Jews during the Nazi regime. He not only issued provisional Swedish passports, or Schutzpass, to protect Jews, but also set up safe houses for them. He disappeared amid mysterious circumstances. Many believe he died in a Soviet prison.
12
Margot Frank(Second World War victim)
Birthdate: February 16, 1926
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany
Died: March 9
13
Benito Mussolini(Dictator of Italy and Principal Founder of Fascism Who Was Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943.)
Birthdate: July 29, 1883
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Predappio, Italy
Died: April 28
The dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1945, Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Party in 1919. It opposed class discrimination and supported nationalism. But when in power, Mussolini crushed rival political parties, trade unions, free press and free speech. He was overthrown by his former colleagues in the Fascist government in July 1943 and ultimately shot dead in April 1945.
14
Edith Frank(Anne Frank's mother)
Birthdate: January 16, 1900
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Aachen, Germany
Died: January 6
15
Eva Braun(Mistress and Later Wife of Adolf Hitler)
Birthdate: February 6, 1912
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Munich, Germany
Died: April 30
Eva Braun was a long-time companion of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. She was previously Nazi photographer Heinrich Hoffman’s assistant. Hitler and Eva got married just 40 hours before committing suicide together. Eva apparently ingested cyanide, while Hitler shot himself, at the Führerbunker, as the Red Army marched into Berlin.
Birthdate: August 3, 1900
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Dana, Indiana, United States
Died: April 18
Birthdate: October 5, 1882
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Died: August 10
The son of a machine shop owner, Robert H. Goddard grew up to become a pioneer of rocketry. Interested in physics and mechanics since childhood, he dreamed of space flight. He developed the world’s first rocket that ran on liquid fuel. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is named after him.
Birthdate: April 3, 1924
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Edma, Ustyansky District, Russia
Died: January 28
Roza Shanina walked 8 miles to her school and back every day and ran away from home when her parents refused to allow her to study any further. The Red Army sniper, known as unseen terror of East Prussia for her 59 killings, documented her combat experience in a diary.
19
John Curtin(14th Prime Minister of Australia (1941 - 1945))
Birthdate: January 8, 1885
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Creswick, Australia
Died: July 5
Born to Irish immigrants, John Curtin had witnessed working-class uprisings in his younger days, which led him to join Australia’s Labour Movement. He was the only Australian prime minister with a Western Australian seat. The strenuous job of leading his country during World War II affected his health.
Birthdate: January 1, 1877
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Germany
Died: April 9
While Wilhelm Canaris became one of Hitler’s most trusted secret agents, he was actually supplying information to Britain all along. He went down in history as a man who was hanged twice for treason, first as part of torture for a few moments, and then for good.
21
Richard Bong(Aircraft pilot, Military personnel)
Birthdate: September 24, 1920
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Superior, Wisconsin, United States
Died: August 6
Birthdate: January 17, 1863
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Chorlton-on-Medlock
Died: March 26
David Lloyd George, or the 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, was the British prime minister from 1916 to 1922 and the first Welsh to hold the position. Though he was a Liberal, he was initially supported by the Conservatives. He was a key figure in the Paris Peace Conference.
23
Jerome Kern(Composer, Songwriter, Film score composer, Coin collecting)
Birthdate: January 27, 1885
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: New York City
Died: November 11
24
Theodore Dreiser(American Novelist and Journalist)
Birthdate: August 27, 1871
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Terre Haute, Indiana, United States
Died: December 28
25
Alla Nazimova(Actress, Director, Producer Best Known for Her Film ‘Salome’)
Birthdate: June 3, 1879
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Yalta, Crimea, Russian Empire
Died: July 13
Alla Nazimova was a Russian-American actress who had an extensive career on Broadway. She acted in the classic plays of playwrights like Ibsen, Chekhov, and Turgenev. She eventually moved on to films and had an equally successful stint in cinema as well. She was openly bisexual and had sexual relationships with women while being married to a man.
26
Alfred Douglas(British Poet, Journalist and Lover of Irish Poet Oscar Wilde)
Birthdate: October 22, 1870
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Powick, Worcestershire, England
Died: March 20
Alfred Douglas was an English journalist and poet best remembered as one of the lovers of famous Irish poet Oscar Wilde. Douglas played an important role in Wilde's imprisonment for homosexuality. Alfred Douglas' father John Sholto Douglas abhorred his son's relationship with the Irish poet and publicly accused the latter of homosexuality, which was illegal at that time.
27
Anton Webern(Austrian Composer Best Known for Extending the '12-Tone Technique' Method of Musical Composition)
Birthdate: December 3, 1883
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Died: September 15
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a core member in the circle of the Second Viennese School and an exponent of atonality and twelve-tone technique. He focused on lyricism, nuance, and sensitivity in the performance of music and was considered radical for his era. He received posthumous attention in the latter half of the 20th century.
28
Eduard Bloch(Physician)
Birthdate: January 30, 1872
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Hluboká nad Vltavou
Died: June 1
Jewish doctor Eduard Bloch began his career as a physician for the Austrian Army. He had later treated a young Adolf Hitler and his cancer-stricken mother, charging very little fees owing to their poor financial condition. This act that made Hitler grant Bloch special protection during the Nazi attack on Austria.
Birthdate: September 25, 1866
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Lexington
Died: December 4
Thomas Hunt Morgan was an evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and embryologist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933. He worked extensively on the role that the chromosome plays in heredity and demonstrated that genes are carried on chromosomes. In his later career, he established the division of biology at the California Institute of Technology.
30
Blind Willie Johnson(Former gospel blues singer, guitarist and evangelist)
Birthdate: January 25, 1897
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Pendleton, Texas, United States
Died: September 18
31
Käthe Kollwitz(German Artist Known for Depicting Poverty, Hunger and War in Her Works 'The Weavers' and 'The Peasant War')
Birthdate: July 8, 1867
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Königsberg, Russia
Died: April 22
Noted for series like Weavers’ Revolt and Peasants’ War, sculptor and graphic artist,Käthe Kollwitz, came in contact with the urban poor when she moved into Berlin's working class area. Touched by their plight, she soon started portraying them through her etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, and drawings, quickly becoming a powerful advocate for those suffering from social injustice, war, and inhumanity.
Birthdate: December 6, 1849
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Trossin, Germany
Died: November 8
August von Mackensen was a German field marshal during the First World War. He was considered one of the German Empire's most prominent military leaders. Following his retirement, he became a Prussian state councilor. He supported right-wing monarchists and nationalist groups. His attitude towards the Nazi regime was ambiguous. He died in 1945 at the age of 95.
33
Giovanni Agnelli(Italian Businessman and Founder of 'Fiat')
Birthdate: August 13, 1866
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Villar Perosa
Died: December 16
34
Princess Stéphanie of Belgium(Crown Princess of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia)
Birthdate: May 21, 1864
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Brussels, Belgium
Died: August 23
Princess Stéphanie of Belgium became the Crown Princess of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia after her marriage to Crown Prince Rudolf, the son of Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. Following the death of her husband and his mistress in a suicide-murder pact, she married a Hungarian nobleman.
Birthdate: October 15, 1889
Sun Sign: Libra
Died: September 21
36
N. C. Wyeth(Painter)
Birthdate: October 22, 1882
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Needham, Massachusetts, United States
Died: October 19
Birthdate: July 7, 1891
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Died: March 26
Tadamichi Kuribayashi was a Japanese general who served in the Imperial Japanese Army. He played an important role in the battle of Iwo Jima where he served as the overall commander of the Japanese garrison. The battle of Iwo Jima inspired the 2006 Japanese-language American war film Letters from Iwo Jima where Tadamichi Kuribayashi was played by actor Ken Watanabe.
38
Hans Oster(Former Deputy Chief of the Abwehr (1935 - 1944) and a Leading Figure of the Anti-Nazi German Resistance)
Birthdate: August 9, 1887
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Dresden, Germany
Died: April 9
Hans Oster was a German military officer who served as a general in Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany. Oster was one of the most important members involved in the German resistance to Nazism. One of the key participants of the Oster Conspiracy, Oster was also involved in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944.
Birthdate: October 30, 1871
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Sète, France
Died: July 20
Paul Valery was a French poet, philosopher, and essayist. Thanks to his immense contribution to literature, Valery received several nominations for the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature. The title of the 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film The Wind Rises was inspired by one of Paul Valery's verses. Also, his poem Palme inspired James Merrill's celebrated poem, Lost in Translation.
40
Violette Szabo(British-French Special Operations Executive Agent During the Second World War)
Birthdate: June 26, 1921
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: February 5
Violette Szabo was a British-French spy who worked as a Special Operations Executive agent during World War II. During her second mission in occupied France, Violette Szabo was captured by the Germans. She was tortured, interrogated, and deported to Ravensbrück, where she was executed on 5 February 1945 at the age of 23.
41
Heinrich Müller(German Police Officer)
Birthdate: April 28, 1900
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Munich, Germany
Died: April 30
42
Hans Geiger(Physicist)
Birthdate: September 30, 1882
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Neustadt, Germany
Died: September 24
43
Pietro Mascagni(Composer)
Birthdate: December 7, 1863
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Livorno, Italy
Died: August 2
44
John Birch(Baptist Missionary and World War II-Era United States Office of Strategic Services Intelligence Officer)
Birthdate: March 28, 1918
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Uttarakhand, India
Died: August 25
John Birch was an American missionary and Baptist minister. A US Army Air Forces military intelligence captain, Birch also played a key role during the Second World War, serving as an OSS agent in China. Killed during a confrontation with Communist soldiers in China, John Birch was posthumously honored with the Army Distinguished Service Medal.
45
Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen(Aristocrat)
Birthdate: May 12, 1879
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Potsdam, Germany
Died: August 26
46
Vladimir Vernadsky(Russian Mineralogist and One of the Founders of Geochemistry, Radiogeology and Biogeochemistry)
Birthdate: March 12, 1863
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: January 6
Vladimir Vernadsky was a geochemist and mineralogist who is widely regarded as one of the founders of radiogeology, biogeochemistry, and geochemistry. He is also credited with founding the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Vernadsky is best remembered for his book, The Biosphere, which discusses Eduard Suess' work. He won the prestigious Stalin Prize in 1943.
47
Felix Salten(Austro-Hungarian Writer and Literary Critic)
Birthdate: September 6, 1869
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Pest, Budapest, Hungary
Died: October 8
Best known for penning the children’s classic Bambi, Felix Salten was forced to flee Vienna during the Nazi regime and eventually settled in Switzerland. His books were banned in Austria after Germany annexed the country, but that didn’t dent his popularity as an author. He was a skilled hunter, too.
48
Tony Stein
Birthdate: September 30, 1921
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Dayton
Died: March 1
49
Willis Augustus Lee(American Vice Admiral of the United States Navy and Sport Shooter)
Birthdate: May 11, 1888
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Natlee, Kentucky, United States
Died: August 25
50
Le Pétomane(French Flatulist and Entertainer)
Birthdate: June 1, 1857
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Marseille, France
Died: August 8
