1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1939th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 939th year of the 2nd millennium, the 39th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1930s decade. This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
Contents
Events
Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix.
January
January 1
Coming into effect in Nazi Germany of:
The Protection of Young Persons Act, passed on April 30, 1938, the Working Hours Regulations.
The small businesses obligation to maintain adequate accounting.
The Jews name change decree.
With his traditional call to the New Year in Nazi Germany, Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler addresses the members of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP).
The Hewlett-Packard technology and scientific instruments manufacturing company is founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard, in a garage in Palo Alto, California, considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
Philipp Etter takes over as President of the Swiss Confederation.
The Third Soviet Five Year Plan is launched.
January 5 – Pioneering U.S. aviator Amelia Earhart is officially declared dead, eighteen months after her disappearance.
January 6 – Otto Hahn's discoveries in the field of nuclear fission are published in Naturwissenschaften.
January 7 – French physicist Marguerite Perey identifies francium, the last chemical element first discovered in nature.
January 14 – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.
January 23 – "Dutch War Scare": Admiral Wilhelm Canaris of the Abwehr leaks misinformation to the effect that Germany plans to invade the Netherlands in February, with the aim of using Dutch air-fields to launch a strategic bombing offensive against Britain. The "Dutch War Scare" leads to a major change in British policies towards Europe.
February
February 6
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain states in the House of Commons that any German attack on France will be automatically considered an attack on Britain.
In a response to Georges Bonnet's speech of January 26, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, referring to Bonnet's alleged statement of December 6, 1938, accepting Eastern Europe as being in Germany's exclusive sphere of influence, protests that all French security commitments in that region are "now off limits".
February 10 – Pope Pius XI, the head of the Roman Catholic Church since 1922, dies of a heart attack.
February 18 – The Golden Gate International Exposition opens in San Francisco.
February 27 – The United Kingdom and France recognize Franco's government in Spain.
March
March – The 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine ends.
March 1 – An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explosion on the outskirts of Osaka kills 94.
March 2 – Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI to become the 260th pope, holding office until 1958.
March 3 – In Durban, South Africa the Timeless Test begins between England and South Africa, the longest game of cricket ever played. It is abandoned 12 days later, when the English team has to catch their ship home.
March 13 – Adolf Hitler advises Jozef Tiso to declare Slovakia's independence, in order to prevent its partition by Hungary and Poland.
March 14 – The Slovak provincial assembly proclaims independence; priest Jozef Tiso becomes president of the independent Slovak government.
March 15 – German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. The Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia declares independence as Carpatho-Ukraine.
March 16
Hungary invades Carpatho-Ukraine; final resistance ends on March 18.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain gives a speech in Birmingham, stating that Britain will oppose any effort at world domination on the part of Germany.
March 17 – The nationalist governments of Spain and Portugal sign the Iberian Pact in Lisbon, pledging mutual defence of the Iberian Peninsula and neutrality in the event of a general European war.
March 20
1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania, requiring return of the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) to Germany.
April
April 1 – The Spanish Civil War comes to an end when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
April 3
Adolf Hitler orders the German military to start planning for Fall Weiß, the codename for the invasion of Poland.
Refik Saydam forms the new government in Turkey (12th government; Refik Saydam has served twice as a prime minister).
April 4
The Slovak–Hungarian War ends, with Slovakia ceding eastern territories to Hungary.
Polish Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck, in London, signs a treaty designed to bilateralize Neville Chamberlain's "Polish Guarantee" of March 31.
Faisal II becomes King of Iraq aged three, following the death of his father, Ghazi, in an automobile incident.
April 7
Italian invasion of Albania begins; King Zog flees into exile, initially in Greece, with his wife and Crown Prince Skander (born April 5).
Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, dies in office from a heart attack at the age of 59. He is briefly replaced by his deputy Earle Page, who serves as the 11th Prime Minister, until a UAP leadership election is held to replace Lyons.
April 9 – African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia. First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR because of their decision.
May
May 3 – Vyacheslav Molotov succeeds Maxim Litvinov, as Soviet Foreign Commissar.
May 6 – German anti-Nazi Carl Friedrich Goerdeler tells the British government that the German and Soviet governments are secretly beginning a rapprochement, with the aim of dividing Eastern Europe between them. Goerdeler also informs the British of German economic problems which he states threaten the survival of the Nazi regime, and advises that if a firm stand is made for Poland, then Hitler will be deterred from war.
May 9 – Spain leaves the League of Nations.
May 14 – Lina Medina, a 5-year-old Peruvian girl, gives birth to a baby boy, becoming the youngest confirmed mother in medical history.
May 17
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom arrive in Quebec City, to begin the first-ever tour of Canada by Canada's monarch.
The British government issues the White Paper of 1939, sharply restricting Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.
Sweden, Norway, and Finland refuse Germany's offer of non-aggression pacts.
May 18 – The Hòa Hảo religious sect is established in Vietnam, by Huỳnh Phú Sổ.
May 20 – Pan American Airways begins transatlantic mail service with the inaugural flight of its Boeing 314 flying boat Yankee Clipper from Port Washington, New York, to Marseille.
May 22 – Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
May 23 – The White Paper of 1939 is ratified by the British government, acting as the governing policy for Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to 1948.
June
June 3 – The Soviet government offers its definition of what constitutes "aggression", upon which the projected Anglo-Soviet-French alliance will come into effect. French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet accepts the Soviet definition of aggression at once. The British reject the Soviet definition, especially the concept of "indirect aggression", which they feel is too loose a definition, and phrased in such a manner as to imply the Soviet right of inference in the internal affairs of Eastern European nations.
June 4 – The St. Louis, a ship carrying 907 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida; only a few passengers have been allowed to enter Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, many of its passengers later die in Nazi death camps during The Holocaust.
June 14 – Tientsin Incident: The Japanese blockade the British concession in Tianjin, China, beginning a crisis which almost causes an Anglo-Japanese war this summer.
June 17 – In the last public execution in France, 6-times murderer Eugen Weidmann is guillotined.
June 23 – Talks are completed in Ankara between French Ambassador René Massigli and Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu, resolving the Hatay dispute in Turkey's favor. Turkey annexes Hatay.
June 24 – The government of Siam changes the country's name to Thailand, which means 'Free Land'.
June 29 – The Ford 9N tractor, with the Ferguson hydraulic three-point hitch, is first demonstrated at Dearborn, Michigan.
July
July 4 - President Roosevelt asked the Senate to reverse the House action to forbid shipment of arms and munitions to nations at war.
July 6 – The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed by the Nazis.
July 8 – The Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boat Yankee Clipper inaugurates the world's first heavier-than-air North Atlantic air passenger service, between the United States (Port Washington, New York) and Britain.
July 23 – Mahatma Gandhi writes a personal letter to Adolf Hitler from India, addressing him as "My friend", requesting him to prevent any possible war.
July 27 – The first recorded snow falls in Auckland, New Zealand, since records began in 1853.
August
August 2 – The Einstein–Szilard letter is signed by Albert Einstein, advising President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb. It is delivered on October 11 and leads to the first meeting on October 21 of the Advisory Committee on Uranium.
August 4 – Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain dismisses the Parliament of the United Kingdom until October 3.
August 19 – Adolf Hitler, after evaluating the pace of non-aggression negotiations with the Soviet Union, orders the Kriegsmarine to begin the opening operations for Fall Weiß, the invasion of Poland. The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee, along with the German pocket battleship Deutschland, as well as dozens of U-boats, cast off for their advance positions. Hitler spends the next few days worrying that the Russians will not come to terms in time for the rest of the invasion plans to unfold as scheduled.
August 20 – Armored forces under the command of Soviet General Georgy Zhukov deliver a decisive defeat to Imperial Japanese Army forces in the Japanese-Soviet border war in Inner Mongolia.
August 23 – The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, a neutrality treaty that also agrees to division of spheres of influence (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, eastern Poland and Bessarabia (modern-day Moldova), north-east province of Romania to the Soviet Union; Lithuania and western Poland to Germany). Its annex reassigns Lithuania to the Soviet Union.
August 24 – As details of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact become public, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain recalls the Parliament of the United Kingdom several weeks early. In a burst of legislation, the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 gives full authority to defence regulations, the British Royal Navy is to be put on a war footing, all military leave is to be cancelled, military reserve forces are to be called up, especially coast defence, radar and anti-aircraft units, and Civil Defence workers are placed on alert. In addition, the last British and French private citizens in Germany are advised to return home by their respective Governments.
September
September 1 – Beginning of WWII:
Opening shots of World War II and invasion of Poland: At 4:45 Central European Time, under cover of darkness, the German WWI-era battleship Schleswig-Holstein quietly slips her moorings at her wharf in Danzig Harbor, drifts into the center of the channel, and commences firing on a Polish military installation on Westerplatte at the northeastern mouth of the port of the internationalized Free City of Danzig, beginning the Battle of Westerplatte and Battle of Danzig Bay. Polish soldiers defend there for 7 days. Five minutes previously, the bombing of Wieluń in the western part of Poland had commenced, beginning the Battle of the Border. Shock-troops of the German Wehrmacht begin crossing the border into Poland.
The Reichstag passes a statement, stating that Adolf Hitler's second-in-command Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring should be appointed as Hitler's successor as Führer, should Hitler die during the war. Rudolf Hess is to be appointed in Göring's place, should anything befall Göring.
Britain and France deliver ultimatums to Germany. Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland declare their neutrality. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt states that "every effort" would be made by his administration to stay out of the war. Italy is advised that Germany does not expect to need its military support at present.
September 2 – WWII:
Following the invasion of Poland, the Free City of Danzig (modern-day Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
Spain and Ireland declare their neutrality.
September 3 – WWII:
The United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia and India (by its Viceroy) declare war on Nazi Germany. Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King, in English, and Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe, in French, give an international radio address stating the Dominion's intention to declare war also.
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt advocates neutrality, in a nationwide radio address.
October
October 6 – WWII: The Battle of Kock ends the Polish Campaign. Polish resistance moves underground.
October 7 – WWII: British Royal Navy cruiser HMS Emerald departs Plymouth in convoy for Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying £2M in gold bar to be used for purchase of military materiel in North America, a predecessor of Operation Fish.
October 8
WWII: Germany annexes Western Poland.
The Holocaust: Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, the first Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe, is proclaimed in German-occupied Poland.
October 14 – German submarine U-47 sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak at anchor in Scapa Flow (Scotland), with the loss of 833 crew.
November
November 1–2 – WWII: Physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer writes the Oslo Report on German weapons systems, and passes it to the British Secret Intelligence Service.
November 4 – WWII: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons to non-belligerent nations.
November 4 – Stewart Menzies is appointed head of the British Secret Intelligence Service.
November 6
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood debuts on radio in the United States with gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as host (the show runs until 1951, making Hopper a powerful figure among the Hollywood elite).
WWII: Sonderaktion Krakau – Germans take action against scientists from the University of Kraków, and other Kraków universities.
November 8
WWII: In Munich, an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler is made by Georg Elser while Hitler is celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
CBS television station W2XAB resumes test transmission, with an all-electronic system broadcast from the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City.
November 9 – WWII: Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
November 14 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
November 16 – Al Capone is released from Terminal Island, due to deteriorating health caused by syphilis.
December
December 1 – The Soviet Union establishes the Finnish Democratic Republic puppet state in Terijoki.
December 4 – WWII:
British battleship HMS Nelson strikes a mine (laid by U-31) off the coast of Scotland, and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.
German submarine U-36 is torpedoed and sunk by British submarine HMS Salmon off Stavanger, the first enemy submarine lost to a British one during the war.
December 6 – WWII: Winter War – The Red Army's advance on the Karelian Isthmus is stopped by Finns at the Mannerheim Line during the Battle of Taipale.
December 9 – WWII: The first soldier of the British Expeditionary Force is killed: Corporal Thomas Priday triggers a French land mine.
December 12 – WWII: HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland, with the loss of 124 men.
December 13 – WWII – Battle of the River Plate: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee is trapped by cruisers HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles, and HMS Exeter after a running battle off the coast of Uruguay. Graf Spee is scuttled by its crew off Montevideo Harbor, on December 17.
December 14 – WWII: Winter War – The League of Nations expels the USSR for attacking Finland.
December 15 – The epic historical romance film Gone with the Wind, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard, premieres at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta. Based on Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel of 1936, it is the longest American film made up to this date (at nearly four hours) and rapidly becomes the highest-grossing film up to this time.
December 18 – WWII: Battle of the Heligoland Bight – RAF Bomber Command, on a daylight mission to attack Kriegsmarine ships in the Heligoland Bight, is repulsed by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft.
Date unknown
Kirlian photography is invented by Semyon Kirlian.
Enzo Ferrari founds Auto Avio Construzioni, the company that becomes Ferrari in 1947.
Births
January–February
January 1 – Ali Mahdi Muhammad, Somali entrepreneur, politician and 4th President of Somalia (d. 2021)
January 3
Arik Einstein, Israeli singer (d. 2013)
Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2023)
Vincent Siew, Taiwanese politician, 9th Vice President of the Republic of China
January 6
Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer, manager (d. 2002)
Murray Rose, Australian swimmer (d. 2012)
January 7 – Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, Italian-born Greek prince and historical biographer (d. 2024)
January 9 – Susannah York, British actress (d. 2011)
January 10
Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
Bill Toomey, American athlete
January 11 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian skier
January 12 – Joachim Yhombi-Opango, Congolese politician (d. 2020)
January 17 – Maury Povich, American talk show host
January 19 – Phil Everly, American rock 'n' roll musician, member of Rockabilly Hall of Fame (d. 2014)
January 20 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, British astronomer and poet
March–April
March 1 – Tzvetan Todorov, Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist (d. 2017)
March 2 – Takako, Princess Suga
March 5
Samantha Eggar, English actress (d. 2025)
Chögyam Trungpa, Buddhist meditation master (d. 1987)
March 8 – Lidiya Skoblikova, Russian speed-skater
March 10 – Lee Soo-sung, 27th Prime Minister of South Korea
March 13 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter (d. 2026)
March 14 – Glauber Rocha, Brazilian film director, actor and screenwriter (d. 1981)
March 17 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
March 20
Thanmanpillai Kanagasabai, Sri Lankan politician, MP (2004–2010) (d. 2025)
Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2024)
March 25 – D. C. Fontana, American television writer (d. 2019)
March 29 – Terence Hill, Italian actor
March 31
Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (d. 1993)
Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
May–June
May 1 – Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter
May 2
Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and inventor
Taomati Iuta, Vice President of Kiribati (1991–94) (d. 2016)
May 4 – Amos Oz, Israeli author and journalist (d. 2018)
May 7
José Antonio Abreu, Venezuelan orchestral conductor, music educator (d. 2018)
Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1982–94) (d. 2018)
May 9 – Ralph Boston, American athlete (d. 2023)
May 13 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
May 18 – Peter Grünberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
May 19
Livio Berruti, Italian sprinter (d. 2026)
James Fox, English actor
Nancy Kwan, American actress
Dick Scobee, American astronaut (d. 1986)
May 20 – Roman Kartsev, Russian actor (d. 2018)
May 21 – Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer
July–August
July 1 – Kazi Zafar Ahmed, 8th Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 2015)
July 4 – Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani, 2nd Prime Minister of Yemen (d. 2011)
July 6
Mary Peters, British athlete
Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah
July 7 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian opera singer (d. 2015)
July 8
Likulia Bolongo, Congolese politician, general and Prime Minister of Zaire
Abdelhamid Sharaf, Jordanian ambassador to the United States and Canada, 51st Prime Minister of Jordan (d. 1980)
July 10 – Mavis Staples, African-American rhythm and blues, gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist
July 13 – John Danielsen, Danish football midfielder
July 14 – Karel Gott, Czech singer (d. 2019)
July 15 – Aníbal Cavaco Silva, 113th Prime Minister of Portugal, 19th President of Portugal
July 16 – Lido Vieri, Italian footballer and manager
July 17
Milva, Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality (d. 2021)
Spencer Davis, Welsh Musician (d. 2020)
September
September 1 – Lily Tomlin, American actress (Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In)
September 5
George Lazenby, Australian actor
Claudette Colvin, American civil rights activist and nurse (d. 2026)
Clay Regazzoni, Swiss Formula One driver (d. 2006)
September 6 – Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
September 7 – Stanislav Petrov, Soviet Air Defence Forces official (d. 2017)
September 8 – Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
September 9 – Reuven Rivlin, 10th President of Israel
September 11 – Charles Geschke, American inventor and businessman (d. 2021)
September 13 – Guntis Ulmanis, 5th President of Latvia
September 16 – Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter (d. 2024)
September 18 – Jorge Sampaio, 17th President of Portugal (d. 2021)
September 22 – Junko Tabei, Japanese mountaineer (d. 2016)
September 27 – Kathy Whitworth, American professional golfer (d. 2022)
September 30 – Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
October
October 3 – Aleksandrs Kudrjašovs, primate in the Latvian Orthodox Church and the Metropolitan of Riga and all Latvia.
October 4 – Ivan Mauger, New Zealand speedway rider, 6 times World Speedway Champion (d. 2018)
October 7
John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
Clive James, Australian-born writer, humorist and television personality (d. 2019)
Harold Kroto, English organic chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
October 8 – Paul Hogan, Australian actor and comedian
October 9
Carmen Salinas, Mexican actress and politician (d. 2021)
John Pilger, Australian-born journalist (d. 2023)
October 11 – Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player (d. 2018)
October 14 – Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
October 18 – Lee Harvey Oswald, American assassin of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
October 21 – Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (d. 2008)
October 22 – Joaquim Chissano, President of Mozambique
October 24
F. Murray Abraham, American actor (Amadeus)
November
November 1 – Barbara Bosson, American actress (d. 2023)
November 6
Athanasios Angelopoulos, Greek academic
Carlos Emilio Morales, Cuban jazz guitarist (d. 2014)
November 8 – Laila Kinnunen, Finnish singer (d. 2000)
November 14 – Wendy Carlos, American electronic composer
November 15 – Yaphet Kotto, African-American actor (d. 2021)
November 18
Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist
Brenda Vaccaro, American actress
November 19 – Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania
November 21 – R. Budd Dwyer, American politician, 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania (d. 1987)
November 25
Rais Khan, Pakistani sitarist (d. 2017)
Thomas Resetarits, Austrian sculptor (d. 2022)
November 26
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 2025)
Shettima Mustafa, Nigerian politician (d. 2022)
Tina Turner, American born Swiss singer and actress (d. 2023)
December
December 1 – Lee Trevino, American professional golfer
December 8
James Galway, Irish flautist
Fahrudin Jusufi, Kosovar-Serbian footballer and coach (d. 2019)
December 15
Cindy Birdsong, American singer
Dave Clark (musician), English musician, songwriter, and drummer
December 17 – Eddie Kendricks, African-American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1992)
December 18
Pedro Jirón, Nicaraguan footballer
Michael Moorcock, English science fiction writer
Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
December 25 – Bob James, American jazz musician and record producer
December 26 – Phil Spector, American record producer (d. 2021)
December 27 – John Amos, African-American actor (Good Times) (d. 2024)
Date unknown
Hoichi Kurisu, Japanese landscape architect
Deaths
January
January 2 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
January 4 – Mary J. L. Black, Canadian librarian and suffragist (b. 1879)
January 6 – Gustavs Zemgals, 2nd President of Latvia (b. 1871)
January 8 – Charles Eastman, American author, physician, reformer, helped found the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1858)
January 14 – Prince Valdemar of Denmark (b. 1858)
January 15 – Kullervo Manner, Finnish Speaker of the Parliament, the Prime Minister of the FSWR and the Supreme Commander of the Red Guards (b. 1880)
January 18 – Ivan Mosjoukine, Soviet actor (b. 1889)
January 22 – Léopold Bernhard Bernstamm, Soviet sculptor (b. 1859)
January 23 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
January 24 – Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician, nutritionist (b. 1867)
January 25 – Helen Ware, American actress (b. 1877)
January 28 – W. B. Yeats, Irish writer, 1923 Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
February
February 1 – Lawrence Marston, American actor, playwright, and film director (b. 1857)
February 3 – Janez Frančišek Gnidovec, Yugoslav Roman Catholic priest and venerable (b. 1873)
February 4 – Edward Sapir, German-American anthropologist and linguist (b. 1884)
February 5 – Teresa Mañé, Spanish teacher, editor and writer (b. 1865)
February 6 – Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharada of Baroda (b. 1863)
February 9 – Henry Balfour, British archaeologist (b. 1863)
February 10
Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
Patriarch Torkom Koushagian of Jerusalem (b. 1874)
February 11 – Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
February 12
Potenciano Gregorio, Filipino musician (b. 1880)
S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (b. 1868)
February 13 – Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon, British general (b. 1859)
February 15 – Henri Jaspar, Belgian politician, 27th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1870)
February 16 – Josef Moroder-Lusenberg, Austro-Italian artist (b.1846)
February 18 – Kanoko Okamoto, Japanese tanka poet (b. 1899)
March
March 2 – Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
March 3 – Dimitrie Gerota, Romanian anatomist, physician (b. 1867)
March 5 – Herbert Mundin, British actor (b. 1898)
March 6
Ginepro Cocchi, Italian Roman Catholic priest and Servant of God (b. 1908)
Patriarch Miron of Romania, Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric, politician, priest and 38th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1868)
March 7 – Matvei Berman, Soviet intelligence officer (b. 1898)
March 13 – Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, French sociologist, anthropologist (b. 1857)
March 14 – Agostino Borgato, Italian actor, director (b. 1871)
March 21 – Avril de Sainte-Croix, French author, journalist (b. 1855)
March 23 – Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad, Palestinian revolutionary (b. 1892)
March 27 – Ferdinand von Quast, German general (b. 1850)
March 28
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Quesada, Cuban diplomat, politician, writer and 6th President of Cuba (b. 1871)
Mario Lertora, Italian artistic gymnast in the 1924 Summer Olympics (b. 1897)
March 29 – Gerardo Machado, Cuban general, 5th President of Cuba (b. 1871)
April
April 4
King Ghazi of Iraq (b. 1912)
Joaquín García Morato, Spanish fighter ace (b. 1904)
April 7 – Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1879)
April 15 – Konstantin Petrovich Grigorovich, Soviet engineer, professor (b. 1886)
April 17 – Ludwig Herzer, Austrian musician and composer (b. 1872)
April 18
Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, British writer, philanthropist (b. 1857)
Hugo Charlemont, Austrian painter (b. 1850)
April 19
Lucilio de Albuquerque, Brazilian painter (b. 1877)
János Vaszary, Hungarian painter and graphic artist (b. 1867)
April 20 – Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria, the son of Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria and Princess Maria Immacolata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (b. 1866)
April 22 – Leandro Campanari, Italian conductor, composer and violinist (b. 1859)
April 25
John Foulds, British classical music composer (b. 1880)
Georges Ricard-Cordingley, French painter (b. 1873)
May
May 1 – Bautista Saavedra, 29th President of Bolivia (b. 1870)
May 2 – Phillips Smalley, American actor, director (b. 1875)
May 3 – Wilhelm Groener, German general (b. 1867)
May 4 – James A. Johnson, American architect (b. 1865)
May 7 – Francesco Paleari, Italian priest and blessed (b. 1863)
May 9 – Mary, Lady Heath, Irish aviator (b. 1896)
May 10 – James Parrott, American actor (b. 1898)
May 13 – Victor Bernau, Norwegian actor, director (b. 1890)
May 14
Jesse Price, American politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from 1914 to 1919 (b. 1863)
May 19 – Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Turkish politician, author and writer (b. 1869)
May 20
Joseph Carr, 2nd president of the National Football League (b. 1880)
Alexandra Čvanová, Ukrainian-Czech soprano (b. 1897)
May 22 – Ernst Toller, German playwright, Communist politician (b. 1893)
May 24
Aleksander Brückner, German scholar (b. 1856)
Witmer Stone, American ornithologist, botanist, and mammalogist (b. 1866)
June
June 4 – Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1900)
June 6
George Fawcett, American actor (b. 1860)
Constantin Noe, Megleno-Romanian editor and professor (b. 1883)
June 9 – Owen Moore, Irish-born American actor (b. 1886)
June 15 – Edward Chaytor, New Zealand general (b. 1868)
June 16 – Chick Webb, American musician (b. 1905)
June 19 – Grace Abbott, American social worker (b. 1878)
June 22 – Benjamin Tucker, American anarchist (b. 1854)
June 23 – Ernest Alexander Cruikshank, Canadian general (b. 1859)
June 25 – Richard Seaman, British motor racing driver (b. 1913)
June 26 – Ford Madox Ford, British writer (b. 1873)
June 27 – Margaret Campbell, American actress (b. 1883)
June 28 – Bobby Vernon, American actor (b. 1898)
June 30 – Eduardo Lopez Bustamante, Venezuelan poet, lawyer and journalist (b. 1881)
July
July 3 – Juan José Gárate, Spanish painter (b. 1869)
July 4 – Louis Wain, English artist (b. 1860)
July 5 – Malietoa Tanumafili I, King of Samoa (b. 1879)
July 7 – Deacon White, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1847)
July 8
Havelock Ellis, British sexologist (b. 1859)
Anna Pappritz, German writer, suffragist (b. 1861)
July 9
Carlo Chiostri, Italian painter (b. 1863)
Alphonse Laurencic, French painter, architect (b. 1902)
July 11 – Stiliyan Kovachev, Bulgarian general (b. 1860)
July 14 – Alphonse Mucha, Czech painter, decorative artist (b. 1860)
July 17 – María del Carmen González-Valerio, Spanish Roman Catholic saint (b. 1930)
July 19 – Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet (b. 1850)
July 20 – Joseph Mendes da Costa, Dutch sculptor (b. 1863)
July 21 – Ambroise Vollard, French art dealer (b. 1866)
July 23 – Jack Duffy, American actor (b. 1882)
July 26 – William Mackay, American artist (b. 1876)
August
August 2 – Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
August 6
Mehmet Emin Çolakoğlu, Turkish army general (b. 1878)
Monroe Dunaway Anderson, American founder of Anderson, Clayton and Company; "Father of Texas Medical Center" (b. 1873)
Arthur Rackham, English book illustrator (b. 1867)
August 10 – Carlo Galimberti, Italian Olympic weightlifter (b. 1894)
August 11 – Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
August 12 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, 41st President of Mexico (b. 1881)
August 23
Sidney Howard, American writer (b. 1891)
Germán Busch, 36th President of Bolivia (b. 1903)
August 25 – Arthur Asquith, British general (b. 1883)
August 26 – Rubén González Cárdenas, Venezuelan lawyer (b. 1875)
August 29 – Marthe de Florian, French painter (b. 1864)
August 31 – Richard Bouwens van der Boijen, French architect (b. 1863)
September
September 6 – Arthur Rackham, British artist (b. 1867)
September 8 – Swami Abhedananda, Indian mystic (b. 1866)
September 10 – Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig, German Waffen SS general, first general killed in action during World War II (b. 1888)
September 12 – Eliodoro Villazón, 27th President of Bolivia (b. 1848)
September 16
Nikolaos Triantafyllakos, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1855)
Otto Wels, German politician, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) (b. 1873)
September 18 – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer, painter (b. 1885)
September 20
Paul Bruchesi, Canadian prelate (b. 1855)
Hermann Brunn, German mathematician (b. 1862)
Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin, French astronomer (b. 1865)
September 21 – Armand Călinescu, Romanian economist, politician and 39th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1893)
September 22
Mikołaj Bołtuć, Polish army general (killed in battle) (b. 1893)
Józef Olszyna-Wilczyński, Polish general (b. 1890)
Werner von Fritsch, German general (killed in action) (b. 1880)
November
November 1 – Kálmán Darányi, 31st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1886)
November 4
Sir Percy Douglas, chairman of the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) Advisory Committee (b. 1876)
Ma Xiangbo, Chinese Jesuit priest and blessed (b. 1840)
November 7 – Kirsti Suonio, Finnish actress (b. 1872)
November 10 – Charlotte Despard, Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist
November 11 – Alicja Kotowska, Polish Roman Catholic nun, martyr and blessed (b. 1899)
November 12 – Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
November 13 – Lois Weber, American actress (b. 1881)
November 14 – Jay Hastings, American politician from Nebraska (b. 1878)
November 15
Platon Ivanovich Ivanov, Soviet-born Finnish civil servant (b. 1863)
November 17 – Aurelio Mosquera, Ecuadorian politician, 25th President of Ecuador (b. 1883)
November 21 – Émile Guépratte, French admiral (b. 1856)
November 22 – King Daudi Cwa II of Buganda (b. 1896)
November 24 – John Harron, American actor (b. 1903)
December
December 3 – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, second youngest daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1848)
December 5 – Santiago Iglesias, Puerto Rican statesman (b. 1872)
December 8 – Alimondo Ciampi, Italian sculptor (b. 1876)
December 12 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, father of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (b. 1883)
December 14 – Helene Kröller-Müller, Dutch museum founder and art collector (b. 1869)
December 16 – Juan Demóstenes Arosemena, 18th President of Panama (b. 1879)
December 18 – Bruno Liljefors, Swedish artist (b. 1860)
December 19
Dmitry Grave, Soviet mathematician (b. 1863)
Reginald F. Nicholson, United States Navy admiral (b. 1852)
December 20 – Hans Langsdorff, German naval officer (suicide) (b. 1894)
December 22 – Ma Rainey, African-American blues singer (b. 1886)
December 23
Anthony Fokker, Dutch-born American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
Maxime Laubeuf, French maritime engineer (b. 1864)
December 24 – Walter Gordon, German physicist (b. 1893)
Nobel Prizes
Physics – Ernest Lawrence
Chemistry – Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ružička
Physiology or Medicine – Gerhard Domagk
Literature – Frans Eemil Sillanpää
Peace – not awarded