Historical figures of World War II
The atlas holds 269 people and 950 moments here, from 1939 to 1945. The most recorded lives are Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and John F. Kennedy. Among them Writers, Political Leaders and Performers.
Notable people
Abdurrahman Wahid
from 1940 to 1945
2 moments here
Indonesian Islamic scholar, Nahdlatul Ulama leader, reform advocate, and fourth president of Indonesia (1999–2001), widely known as Gus Dur.…
Abdus Salam
from 1940 to 1942
2 moments here
Pakistani theoretical physicist and 1979 Nobel Prize laureate whose career connected education in Punjab and Cambridge with professorships in Lahore…
Adolf Hitler
from 1939 to 1945
31 moments here
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who led the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), became German…
Agatha Christie
in 1941
2 moments here
English novelist, playwright, and memoirist, internationally known for detective fiction featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.…
Akira Kurosawa
in 1942
1 moment here
Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, editor, and painter. Kurosawa directed 30 feature films between 1943 and 1993, including Rashomon, Seven…
Alan Turing
from 1939 to 1945
7 moments here
English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computing pioneer. Turing studied at Cambridge and Princeton, worked at Bletchley Park during the…
Albert Camus
from 1940 to 1945
6 moments here
French writer, philosopher, journalist, and political activist, born in French Algeria. Camus studied and worked in Algiers, moved between Algeria…
Albert Einstein
in 1939
1 moment here
German-born theoretical physicist who transformed modern physics through special and general relativity, foundational work on quantum theory, and…
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
from 1941 to 1945
5 moments here
Soviet and Russian novelist, essayist, historian, dissident, and Nobel laureate whose writings on Soviet political repression and the Gulag made him…
Alexander Prokhorov
from 1939 to 1944
2 moments here
Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov was an Australian-born Soviet and Russian physicist whose work in quantum electronics helped lead to the maser and…
Alfred Hitchcock
from 1939 to 1945
4 moments here
English filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), known as the “Master of Suspense,” worked in British cinema before relocating to Hollywood in 1939.…
Ali Khamenei
in 1939
1 moment here
Iranian Shia cleric and politician who was president of Iran from 1981 to 1989 and supreme leader from 1989 until his death in 2026.…
Allan MacLeod Cormack
from 1941 to 1945
3 moments here
South African-born American physicist and academic whose mathematical work helped establish computed tomography.…
Andy Warhol
in 1945
1 moment here
American artist and filmmaker whose work helped define Pop art. Born in Pittsburgh, Warhol studied there before moving to New York in 1949.…
Anne Frank
from 1941 to 1945
9 moments here
Anne Frank was a German-born Jewish diarist whose writing from hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam became The Diary of a Young Girl.…
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
from 1939 to 1944
12 moments here
French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944) pioneered airmail flying in Europe, Africa, and South America, wrote works including…
Aretha Franklin
from 1942 to 1944
2 moments here
American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil-rights activist known as the “Queen of Soul.” Her documented movements span childhood relocations…
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
from 1939 to 1944
3 moments here
Indian statesman, poet, journalist and Bharatiya Janata Party leader who served as India’s prime minister in 1996 and from 1998 to 2004.…
Audrey Hepburn
from 1939 to 1945
3 moments here
British actress and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn (Audrey Kathleen Ruston) was born in Brussels, raised across Belgium, England and the Netherlands,…
Augusto Pinochet
from 1939 to 1945
2 moments here
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was a Chilean army officer who led the 11 September 1973 coup and ruled Chile as head of the military junta and then…
Aung San
from 1939 to 1945
11 moments here
Burmese independence leader, political organizer, and military commander. Aung San helped found the Burma Independence Army, led the anti-Japanese…
Bảo Đại
in 1945
5 moments here
Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy, known as Bảo Đại, was the final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and later chief of state of the State of Vietnam.…
Benito Mussolini
from 1940 to 1945
19 moments here
Italian journalist, Fascist leader, and dictator of Italy from 1922 until his removal in 1943.…
Bertrand Russell
from 1939 to 1944
3 moments here
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, was an English philosopher, mathematician, logician, writer, and public campaigner.…
Moments
- 1939 Return to Cambridge Alan Turing
- 1939 Move to the Lebedev Physical Institute Alexander Prokhorov
- 1939 Reconnaissance posting at Orconte Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- 1939 RSS volunteer in Gwalior Atal Bihari Vajpayee
- 1939 Return to Arnhem during wartime Audrey Hepburn
- 1939 Maipo Regiment posting Augusto Pinochet
- 1939 Arrest at Shwedagon Pagoda headquarters Aung San
- 1939 Professor at UCLA Bertrand Russell
- 1939 Family relocation to Perth Bob Hawke
- 1939 Gokhale Institute lecture B. R. Ambedkar
- 1939 1939 New York World's Fair visit Carl Sagan
- 1939 First major climb: Mount Ollivier Edmund Hillary
- 1939 Railroad-construction assignment in China Eisaku Satō
- 1939 Wartime stay at Balmoral Elizabeth II
- 1939 Emigration arrival in New York Enrico Fermi
- 1939 First U.S. fission experiment Enrico Fermi
- 1939 Finca Vigía tenancy Ernest Hemingway
- 1939 Hotel Ambos Mundos residence Ernest Hemingway
- 1939 Arrival and residence in Dublin Erwin Schrödinger
- 1939 Paris exhibition trip Frida Kahlo
- 1939 Return to La Casa Azul Frida Kahlo
- 1939 Return voyage to New York Frida Kahlo
- 1939 Chilean consul in Nice Gabriela Mistral
- 1939 Departure from San Francisco Hideki Yukawa
- 1939 Disembarkation in New York Hideki Yukawa
- 1939 Visit to Princeton University Hideki Yukawa
- 1939 Bachelor's degree at Columbia Isaac Asimov
- 1939 Visit to China before World War II Jawaharlal Nehru
- 1939 Marriage to Brian Aherne Joan Fontaine
- 1939 Doctoral research with Robert Robinson John Cornforth
- 1939 Observed prewar Berlin John F. Kennedy
- 1939 Chess Olympiad José Raúl Capablanca
- 1939 Mountain-warfare study Juan Perón
- 1939 Semester at the University of Turin Juan Perón
- 1939 Krasnoyarsk territorial committee appointment Konstantin Chernenko
- 1939 Bachelor's degree at Lincoln Kwame Nkrumah
- 1939 Studies at the University of Pennsylvania Kwame Nkrumah
- 1939 Gatuyaini village school Mwai Kibaki
- 1939 Studies at Fort Hare Nelson Mandela
- 1939 Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics Niels Bohr
- 1939 Work at Encinitas Hermitage Paramahansa Yogananda
- 1939 Adoption journey in Ireland P. L. Travers
- 1939 Minor-seminary enrollment Pope Benedict XVI
- 1939 Lays foundation of Mahajati Sadan Rabindranath Tagore
- 1939 Family move to Unley Robin Warren
- 1939 Meeting with Ambassador Bullitt during the Danzig crisis Saint-John Perse
- 1939 Vice-chancellor at Banaras Hindu University Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
- 1939 Teaching at Lycée Camille-Sée Simone de Beauvoir
- 1939 Teaching at Lycée Henri-IV Simone de Beauvoir
- 1939 Bar examination in London Tunku Abdul Rahman