1953 deaths

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Soviet revolutionary and politician who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held office as general secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1952 and as premier from 1941 until his death. Despite initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he eventually consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s. Stalin codified the Communist Party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, and his version of it is referred to as Stalinism.

Russian writer and poet (1870–1953)

American playwright (1888–1953)

American physicist (1868–1953)

American astronomer (1889–1953)

founder and first king of Saudi Arabia (r. 1932–1953)

Russian and Soviet pianist, composer and conductor (1891–1953)

Soviet politician and NKVD police chief

Welsh poet and writer (1914–1953)

American singer-songwriter (1923–1953)

Romani-Belgian /French jazz musician (1910–1953)

German Field Marshal during World War II (1875-1953)

5th President of Czechoslovakia

American track and field athlete and baseball player (1888-1953)

French painter and writer (1879–1953)

queen consort of the United Kingdom from 1910 to 1936

Soviet sculptor (1889-1953)

Polish poet (1894–1953)

American tennis player (1893–1953)

king of Romania from 1930 to 1940

French painter (1877–1953)

French-English writer (1870–1953)

Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor (1893–1953)

Russian artist (1885–1953)

Jewish-German architect (1887–1953)

German Nazi official (1900-1953); International Military Tribunal defendant

Hungarian-born composer of operettas (1882–1953)

German mathematician (1871–1953)

general in the Imperial Japanese Army (1875-1953). Dictator of Japan

German–American philosopher

French film director, essayist and novelist (1897–1953)

Australian politician, ninth Prime Minister of Australia (1876-1953)

German field marshal (1885–1953)

inventor of the windshield wiper blade (1866–1953)

Italian economist and political figure (1868–1953)

Nazi SS General; Reich Minister of Nutrition and Agriculture (1895-1953)

Austrian physicist and mathematician (1883-1953)

German physicist (1875-1953)

Polish scientist and politician (1869-1953)

English contralto singer (1912–1953)

Ukrainian microbiologist (1856-1953)

Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci (1881–1953)

American medical scientist (1871–1953)

Estonian general and politician (1884-1953)

Ukranian chemist (1861–1953)

UK mathematician & polymath (1881–1953)

Hanoverian Royal (1887-1953)

English composer, poet, and author (1883–1953)

Soviet/Russian astronomer (1883-1953)

thumb|Vydunas as featured on 200 Lithuanian litas|litas banknote (1997 release) thumb|Vydūnas playing harp at home thumb|Vydūnas holding a funeral speech in 1931

French painter (1881–1953)

Swedish artist (1874-1953)

20th-century prime minister of Sweden (1862-1953)

Italian racecar driver

French painter (1901–1953)

American actor (1879–1953)

Irish revolutionary and activist (1866-1953)

Georgian politician and Chairman of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (1868-1953)

daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (1866-1953)

5th Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey (1887–1953)