1941 deaths

Helmuth Wilberg (1 June 1880 – 20 November 1941) was a German officer of Jewish ancestry and a Luftwaffe General of the Air Force during the Second World War.

Rudolf Schoenheimer (May 10, 1898 – September 11, 1941) was a German-American biochemist who developed the technique of isotope labelling/tagging of biomolecules, enabling detailed study of metabolism. This work revealed that all the constituents of an organism are in a constant state of chemical renewal.Born in Berlin, after graduating in medicine from the Friedrich Wilhelm University there, he learned further organic chemistry at the University of Leipzig and then studied biochemistry at the University of Freiburg where he rose to be Head of Physiological Chemistry.He spent the 1930-31 academic year at the University of Chicago.In 1933, following the rise of the Nazis to power he emigrated from Germany to the Columbia University to join the department of Biological Chemistry. Working with David Rittenberg, from the radiochemistry laboratory of Harold C. Urey and later together with Konrad Bloch, they used stable isotopes to tag foodstuffs and trace their metabolism within living things.He further established that cholesterol is a risk factor in atherosclerosis.He suffered from manic depression all of his life, which led to him in 1941 committing suicide using cyanide. He had been honoured with the request to give the Dunham Lecture at Harvard before his death. It was read for him following his death.

Moisés Sáenz (1888–1941) was a Mexican leading education advocate and reformer of education in Mexico during the first half of the 20th century. Many of the philosophies and programs that Sáenz introduced during his tenure as Sub-Secretary for the Secretariat of Public Education in the 1920s came from the influences of his mentor, John Dewey.

Herbert Max Finlay Freundlich (28 January 1880 in Charlottenburg – 30 March 1941 in Minneapolis) was a German chemist.His father was of German Jewish descent, and his mother (née Finlay) was from Scotland. His younger brother was Erwin Finlay Freundlich (1885–1964).
He was a department head at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry (now the Fritz Haber Institute) from 1919 until 1933, when the racial policies of the Nazi party demanded the dismissal of non-Aryans from senior posts. In 1934 he became a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.Emigrating to England, Freundlich accepted a guest professorship at University College London. Five years later, he accepted a professorship at the University of Minnesota. He died in Minneapolis two years later.
Freundlich's main works dealt with the coagulation and stability of colloidal solutions.
His most prominent student was Robert Havemann who became a well known colloid chemist of the German Democratic Republic.
His work is of continuing importance, with his 1907 paper "Über die Adsorption in Lösungen" (On adsorption in solutions) becoming highly cited at the beginning of the 21st century. This early paper was based on his habilitation thesis written in Leipzig under the guidance of Wilhelm Ostwald, and was heavily based on the work of Sten Lagergren.

Karl August Reinhardt (27 January 1895 – 27 April 1941) was a German mathematician whose research concerned geometry, including polygons and tessellations. He solved one of the parts of Hilbert's eighteenth problem, and is the namesake of the Reinhardt polygons.

Johann Heinrich Samuel "Marcel" Sulzberger (24 December 1876–1941) was a Swiss composer, pianist, and music author.

Kurt Koffka (March 12, 1886 – November 22, 1941) was a German psychologist and professor. He was born and educated in Berlin, Germany; he died in Northampton, Massachusetts, from coronary thrombosis. He was influenced by his maternal uncle, a biologist, to pursue science. He had many interests including visual perception, brain damage, sound localization, developmental psychology, and experimental psychology. He worked alongside Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler to develop Gestalt psychology. Koffka had several publications including "The Growth of the Mind: An Introduction to Child Psychology" (1924) and "The Principles of Gestalt Psychology" (1935) which elaborated on his research.

Franz Hessel (November 21, 1880 – January 6, 1941) was a German writer and translator. With Walter Benjamin, he produced a German translation of three volumes of Marcel Proust's 1913-1927 work À la recherche du temps perdu in the late 1920s.
Hessel's parents, Fanny and Heinrich Hessel, came to Berlin in 1880, and joined the Lutheran church (having been born Jewish). In 1900, when Franz Hessel's father dies, he left a large fortune, enabling Franz Hessel to live a carefree life in Munich and Paris. In 1901, he attends the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he publishes twelve poems in Avalun. Ein Jahrbuch neuer deutscher lyrischer Wortkunst. In 1908, he publishes his first prose prose collection, Laura Wunderl. Müncher Novellen. In 1913, he marries Helen Grund, and publishes Der Kramladen des Glücks. On 27 July 1914, their first son Ulrich is born, and in 1917, their second son Stefan is born. In 1920, he publishes Pariser Romanze. In 1922, he publishes Von den Irrtümern der Liebenden. Eine Nachtwache.Hessel became one of the first German exponents of the French idea of flânerie, and in 1929 published a collection of essays on the subject related to his native Berlin, Walking in Berlin (German: Spazieren in Berlin). Reviewing the book in 1929, Benjamin described it as "an echo of the stories the city has told [Hessel] ever since he was a child—an epic book through and through, a process of memorizing while strolling around, a book for which memory has acted not as the source but as the Muse." Concluding, Benjamin wrote: "if a Berliner is willing to explore his city for any treasures other than neon advertisements, he will grow to love this book."In October 1938, the Hessels flee Germany for exile in Paris. In April 1940, the family flees Paris for Sanary-sur-Mer. In May, Franz and Ulrich are interned in Camp des Milles. On 27 July 1940, both are released and are able to return to Helen in Sanary-sur-Mer. However, Franz has dysentery, and has suffered a stroke, from which he does not recover.: 167–180 Hessel inspired the character of Jules in Henri-Pierre Roche's novel Jules et Jim.

Walter Ruttmann (28 December 1887 – 15 July 1941) was a German cinematographer and film director, an important German abstract experimental film maker, along with Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger. He is best known for directing the semi-documentary 'city symphony' silent film, with orchestral score by Edmund Meisel, in 1927, Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis. His audio montage Wochenende (Weekend) (1930) is considered a major contribution in the development of audio plays.

Daniel Vorländer (11 June 1867 – 8 June 1941) was a German chemist who synthesized most of the liquid crystals known until his retirement in 1935.
Vorländer was born in Eupen in Rhenish Prussia. He studied chemistry at Kiel, Munich, and Berlin, after which he became a professor at University of Halle-Wittenberg.
Vorländer applied his knowledge of molecular structure to select those exhibiting the crystalline liquid state. In particular a linear molecular geometry was conductive. "Over the years Vorländer and his students synthesized hundreds of liquid crystalline compounds. An interesting discovery was that amongst the slimy liquid crystals were many soap and soap-like compounds." (Dunmur & Sluckin p 48)
Vorländer served as a volunteer during World War I, during which he received the Iron Cross. He died in Halle.