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

  1. John Steinbeck

    from 1940 to 1943

    2 moments here

    American novelist, journalist, and war correspondent whose life and work ranged from California’s Salinas Valley and Monterey Peninsula to wartime…

  2. Jomo Kenyatta

    from 1939 to 1945

    4 moments here

    Jomo Kenyatta (c. 1897–1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who became Kenya’s first prime minister in 1963 and first president…

  3. Jorge Amado

    from 1941 to 1945

    4 moments here

    Brazilian modernist writer, journalist, and Communist politician whose life moved between Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, South America, Europe,…

  4. Jorge Luis Borges

    in 1945

    1 moment here

    Argentine writer, poet, essayist, translator, lecturer, librarian, and critic. Borges was born in Buenos Aires, lived in Switzerland and Spain during…

  5. Jorge Rafael Videla

    from 1942 to 1944

    2 moments here

    Argentine Army officer and de facto president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. His dictatorship, the National Reorganization Process, conducted…

  6. Joseph Stalin

    from 1943 to 1945

    4 moments here

    Soviet revolutionary and political leader, born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili in Gori, Georgia.…

  7. José Raúl Capablanca

    from 1939 to 1942

    3 moments here

    Cuban chess player and diplomat, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. This chronology records documented physical presence at places of birth,…

  8. J. R. R. Tolkien

    from 1939 to 1945

    3 moments here

    John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English philologist, university professor, and author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.…

  9. Juan Manuel Fangio

    from 1940 to 1941

    4 moments here

    Argentine racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio was a five-time Formula One World Drivers’ Champion.…

  10. Juan Perón

    from 1939 to 1945

    6 moments here

    Juan Domingo Perón was an Argentine army officer and politician who served as president of Argentina from 1946 to 1955 and again from 1973 until his…

  11. Judy Garland

    from 1939 to 1941

    2 moments here

    American actress, singer, and vaudevillian, born Frances Ethel Gumm. Garland rose from childhood vaudeville and MGM musical films to become a major…

  12. Katharine Hepburn

    from 1939 to 1941

    2 moments here

    American stage, film, and television actress whose career ran from 1928 to 1995. Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut, educated at Bryn Mawr…

  13. Kenneth Kaunda

    from 1941 to 1943

    2 moments here

    Zambian teacher, nationalist leader, and first president of independent Zambia, serving from 1964 to 1991.…

  14. Kim Dae-jung

    from 1943 to 1945

    2 moments here

    South Korean politician, democracy activist, and eighth president of South Korea (1998–2003).…

  15. Kim Il Sung

    from 1940 to 1945

    5 moments here

    Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju) was a Korean communist guerrilla leader, North Korean political leader, and founder of the Democratic People’s…

  16. Konstantin Chernenko

    from 1939 to 1945

    3 moments here

    Soviet Communist Party official and General Secretary of the CPSU from 13 February 1984 until his death.…

  17. Kwame Nkrumah

    from 1939 to 1945

    7 moments here

    Ghanaian nationalist leader, Pan-Africanist, and political theorist who led the Gold Coast to independence as Ghana in 1957.…

  18. Le Corbusier

    from 1940 to 1942

    3 moments here

    Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, painter, writer, and urban planner.…

  19. Lê Đức Thọ

    from 1941 to 1943

    2 moments here

    Vietnamese revolutionary, Communist Party leader, and diplomat. Born Phan Đình Khải, he was imprisoned by French colonial authorities, worked in…

  20. Leon Trotsky

    from 1939 to 1940

    4 moments here

    Leon Trotsky (Lev Davidovich Bronstein) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet political leader, Marxist theorist, and organizer of the Red Army.…

  21. Léopold Sédar Senghor

    from 1940 to 1944

    4 moments here

    Senegalese poet, theorist of Négritude, and statesman who became Senegal’s first president in 1960.…

  22. Louis Armstrong

    in 1943

    1 moment here

    American jazz trumpeter, vocalist, bandleader, and entertainer whose career transformed jazz solo performance and made him an international cultural…

  23. Ludwig Wittgenstein

    from 1941 to 1944

    4 moments here

    Austro-British philosopher whose work in logic, language, mathematics, and mind shaped twentieth-century analytic philosophy.…

  24. Lyndon B. Johnson

    in 1942

    1 moment here

    Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) was a Texas-born teacher, congressman, senator, vice president, and the 36th president of the United States.…

Moments

  1. 1940 Anglo-French Supreme War Council at Briare Charles de Gaulle
  2. 1940 First meeting with Churchill Charles de Gaulle
  3. 1940 In Paris as brigadier-general Charles de Gaulle
  4. 1940 Landed at Heston before the Appeal Charles de Gaulle
  5. 1940 Meeting on the Breton redoubt Charles de Gaulle
  6. 1940 Mission from Bordeaux Charles de Gaulle
  7. 1940 Reached Plymouth from Brittany Charles de Gaulle
  8. 1940 Paints Pan American Unity on Treasure Island Diego Rivera
  9. 1940 In Paris during the German invasion Henri Matisse
  10. 1940 Return to Nice under Vichy France Henri Matisse
  11. 1940 Foreign-policy address in Philadelphia Herbert Hoover
  12. 1940 Italian invasion of the French Riviera Italo Calvino
  13. 1940 Capture at La Charité-sur-Loire Léopold Sédar Senghor
  14. 1940 KNIL basic training Suharto
  15. 1940 Free French headquarters at Carlton Gardens Charles de Gaulle
  16. 1940 Treasury wartime adviser John Maynard Keynes
  17. 1940 Beginning of Washington exile Saint-John Perse
  18. 1940 Voyage to Xiamen Aung San
  19. 1940 Tomato-greenhouse work at Lindfield Jomo Kenyatta
  20. 1940 Death in Mexico City Leon Trotsky
  21. 1940 Fatal attack at his Mexico City residence Leon Trotsky
  22. 1940 Arrival in Mexico City as consul general Pablo Neruda
  23. 1940 Returns to occupied Paris Pablo Picasso
  24. 1940 Oxford special convocation at Santiniketan Rabindranath Tagore
  25. 1940 Arrives in wartime America Salvador Dalí
  26. 1940 Marriage to Laurence Olivier Vivien Leigh
  27. 1940 Exile residence in Stockholm Willy Brandt
  28. 1940 Birth in Jombang Abdurrahman Wahid
  29. 1940 Birth in Yaftal Burhanuddin Rabbani
  30. 1940 First solo concert at Salle Pleyel Édith Piaf
  31. 1940 Medical treatment in San Francisco Frida Kahlo
  32. 1940 Gran Premio del Norte start Juan Manuel Fangio
  33. 1940 Meets Franco at Hendaye Adolf Hitler
  34. 1940 Meets Mussolini in Florence Adolf Hitler
  35. 1940 Meets Pétain at Montoire Adolf Hitler
  36. 1940 Brazzaville Manifesto Charles de Gaulle
  37. 1940 Escape and return to Perpignan Claude Simon
  38. 1940 Establishment of the Việt Minh in Guilin Ho Chi Minh
  39. 1940 Arrest after Gorakhpur speeches Jawaharlal Nehru
  40. 1940 Birth at Liverpool Maternity Hospital John Lennon
  41. 1940 Gran Premio del Norte victory return Juan Manuel Fangio
  42. 1940 Escape across the Amur River Kim Il Sung
  43. 1940 Guerrilla retraining at Vyatskoye Kim Il Sung
  44. 1940 Birth in Três Corações Pelé
  45. 1940 Marriage at Mahawelatenne Walawwa Sirimavo Bandaranaike
  46. 1940 Visits Vienna Adolf Hitler
  47. 1940 Exile at Hotel Palácio Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  48. 1940 Birth at Jackson Street Hospital Bruce Lee
  49. 1940 Established the Order of Liberation Charles de Gaulle
  50. 1940 Marriage to Martha Gellhorn Ernest Hemingway

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