1954 deaths

Kurt "Kutte" Widman (2 March 1906 – 27 November 1954) was a German bandleader and jazz musician.
Widmann started out on drums, then later learned to play accordion and trombone. He was playing locally by 1924, and led a quintet at the Hotel Imperator in Berlin in 1933 which played swing jazz; Hans Berry was one of his sidemen. He directed his own dance orchestra from 1938 to 1942, which frequently appeared at the Haus Vaterland. He recorded in 1938–1939, including under various pseudonyms such as Billy Blackmoore, John Weepster, and John Webb. Once war began with England, censorship forbade these names, but the band was allowed to continue performing, including at events for German troops. Widmann was drafted to the Wehrmacht during the war but was released in 1944 due to health reasons. He continued playing events in Germany even as Allied troops began invading, playing cinema houses in between films.
After the war, Widmann formed a new band which played during the American occupation, sometimes using older arrangements from the war period, but also employing Berlin-based arranger Walter Jenson. He recorded again in the late 1940s, and died of a stroke in 1954. The 1955 film Music in the Blood, directed by Erik Ode, is based on his life with Viktor de Kowa in the lead role.

Arthur Frederick Bues was a Major League Baseball third baseman. He was born on March 3, 1888, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He batted and threw right-handed, weighed 184 pounds (83 kg), and was 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m). Bues was considered one of the best third basemen in the country during his career. Bues was the nephew of George Stallings. Bues originally played for Kansas City of the American Association and made his Major League debut on April 17, 1913, for the Boston Braves. He had just 1 at bat in 2 games. In 1914 he played for the Chicago Cubs in 14 games. He had 45 at-bats with 10 hits. He recorded no home runs and 4 RBIs.
Art Bues died on November 7, 1954, in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.

Joachim Lemelsen (28 September 1888 – 30 March 1954) was a German general during World War II who rose to army-level command.
During Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, troops of the XLVII Motorized Corps under his command executed the criminal Commissar Order, prompting Lemelsen to complain: "Soon the Russians will get to hear about the countless corpses lying along the routes taken by our soldiers (...). The result will be that the enemy will hide in the woods and fields and continue to fight--and we shall lose countless comrades".

Friedrich Weber, Dr. (30 January 1892 – 19 July 1955) was an instructor in veterinary medicine at the University of Munich. In World War I he served in the Royal Bavarian 1st Heavy Cavalry Regiment "Prince Karl of Bavaria". He was the leader of the Oberland League and ranked alongside Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff, Ernst Röhm and Hermann Kriebel as one of the chief conspirators of the Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923. He was convicted along with Hitler in 1924 but continued to head the Oberland League until 1929.
After his release from prison, he set up a private vet practice in Munich and continued close contact with Hitler being given a lucrative position in Berlin after Hitler's accession to power in 1933. He became an army vet late in World War II. After the war, he was interned by U.S. occupation authorities and heavily fined for war profiteering, but continued to practise veterinary medicine, eventually dying in reduced circumstances in 1955.

Walter Braunfels (German pronunciation: [ˈvaltər ˈbʁaʊnfɛls]; 19 December 1882 – 19 March 1954) was a German composer, pianist, and music educator.

August Georg Ludwig de Bary (17 February 1874, in Frankfurt am Main – 10 October 1954) was a German physician and politician in Frankfurt.
He served as Chief Physician at the Clementine Children's Hospital in Hospital from 1912 to 1928, and was chairman of the medical association in Hesse-Nassau from 1928 to 1933. He was director of the Citizen's Hospital in Frankfurt from 1933 to 1953. He was also chairman of the board of Dr. Senckenbergische Stiftung. He was a council member in Frankfurt from 1948 to 1952 and a board member of the German Hospital Association from 1949 to 1952.

Hans Luckhardt (16 June 1890 in Berlin-Charlottenburg – 8 October 1954 in Bad Wiessee) was a German architect and the brother of Wassili Luckhardt, with whom he worked his entire life. He studied at the University of Karlsruhe with Hermann Billing and was a member of the Novembergruppe, the Arbeitsrats für Kunst, and the Glass Chain. Together with Anton Lorenz, he designed furniture in the 1920s and 1930s, predominantly steel-tube and moveable chairs.

Jeanne Bardey (April 12, 1872 – October 13, 1954) was a French painter and sculptor who lived in Lyon.She was born in Lyon. She is known for being the last student of Auguste Rodin. In 1916, Rodin described Jeanne Bardey as his heir, but his last wishes were not respected, and she was removed from his legacy. More than 600 of her sculptures are contained in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. Other pieces are held by the Musée d'Orsay. Bardey had a daughter, Henriette.

Norbert Jacques (6 June 1880 – 15 May 1954) was a Luxembourgish novelist, journalist, screenwriter, and translator who wrote in German. He was born in Luxembourg-Eich, Luxembourg and died in Koblenz, West Germany. He created the character Dr. Mabuse, who was a feature of some of his novels. Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler, the first novel to feature Mabuse, was one of the bestsellers of its time; it sold over 500,000 copies in Germany. Today, Jacques is known best for Dr. Mabuse. In 1922, he received German citizenship.

Giuseppe Oddo (9 June 1865 – 5 November 1954) was an Italian chemist. The Oddo–Harkins rule is named after him and William Draper Harkins. He published his findings in 1914 in a German journal.