Explore 6096 historical events from 1940–1949.
Eduard Wirths was the chief SS doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp from September 1942 to January 1945. Thus, Wirths had formal responsibility for everything undertaken by t…
Eduard Wirths, German physician (born 1909)
Johannes "Hans" Wilhelm Geiger was a German experimental physicist. He is known as the inventor of the Geiger counter, a device used to detect ionizing radiation, and for carrying …
Hans Geiger, German physicist and academic, co-invented the Geiger counter (born 1882)
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are r…
Béla Bartók, Hungarian pianist and composer (born 1881)
Leonardo Conti was the Reich Health Leader and an SS-Obergruppenführer in Nazi Germany. He was involved in the planning and execution of Action T4 that murdered hundreds of thousan…
Leonardo Conti, German SS officer (born 1900)
Felix Salten was an Austrian author and literary critic. His most famous work is Bambi, a Life in the Woods, which was adapted into an animated feature film, Bambi, by Walt Disney …
Felix Salten, Austrian author and critic (born 1869)
Gottlieb Hering was an SS commander of Nazi Germany. He served in Action T4 and later as the second and last commandant of Bełżec extermination camp during Operation Reinhard. Heri…
Gottlieb Hering, German captain (born 1887)
Milton Snavely Hershey was an American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist.
Milton S. Hershey, American businessman, founded The Hershey Company (born 1857)
Pierre Jean Marie Laval was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vichy Fr…
Pierre Laval, French lawyer and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France, convicted Vichy collaborator (born 1883)
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who headed the puppet government of Norway during the country's occupatio…
Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian soldier and politician, Minister President of Norway (born 1887)
Robert Ley was a German Nazi politician and head of the German Labour Front during its entire existence, from 1933 to 1945. He also held many other high positions in the Nazi Party…
Robert Ley, German politician (born 1890)
Aleksey Nikolaevich Krylov was a Russian naval engineer, applied mathematician and memoirist. In mathematics, Krylov subspace and Krylov subspace methods are named after him.
Aleksey Krylov, Russian mathematician and engineer (born 1863)
Paul Eugène Pelliot was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tib…
Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (born 1878)
Plutarco Elías Calles was a Mexican politician and military officer who served as the 47th president of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. After the assassination of Álvaro Obregón, Calles …
Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexican general and politician, 40th President of Mexico (born 1877)
Newell Convers Wyeth was an American painter and illustrator. He was a student of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,00…
N. C. Wyeth, American painter and illustrator (born 1882)
Kesago Nakajima was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese forces under Nakajima's command committed the 1937 Nanjing Ma…
Kesago Nakajima, Japanese general (born 1881)
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
Second World War: British and Canadian forces concluded the Liberation of Arnhem in the Netherlands from German occupati
Jasenovac was a concentration and extermination camp established in the village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia…
About 600 prisoners of the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia revolted, but only 80 manage
Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen in Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located th…
The Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps were liberated by the United States Army
Major Kenji Hatanaka was a Japanese military officer and one of the chief conspirators in the Kyūjō incident, a plot to seize the Imperial Palace and to prevent the broadcast of E…
Kenji Hatanaka (pictured) and other Japanese military officers launched an attempted coup d'état to prevent the…
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: The US Army's 90th Infantry Division liberated Flossenbürg concentration camp (pictured) in Germany, freei
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: The photograph Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn (pictured) was taken after German troops withdr
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: Benito Mussolini, the deposed fascist dictator of Italy, was executed by partisans in Giulino
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: The U
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: As Allied forces closed in on Berlin, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the Führerbunker with