1944 deaths

Théodose Morel, known as Tom Morel (1 August 1915 – 10 March 1944) was a career military officer and French Resistance fighter. A student, then instructor, at the Saint-Cyr military academy, he fought for the French Army against the Italians in the Alps. After the Fall of France, he led the Maquis des Glières, organizing attacks and parachute drops, and was the recipient of multiple military awards including the Croix de Guerre. He was killed in action at the end of a successful commando raid. He is memorialized at Saint-Cyr and by the French scouting movement.

Robert Lynen (24 May 1920 in Nermier, France – 1 April 1944 in Karlsruhe, Germany) was a French actor. A child star of French cinema, he joined the French Resistance during his country's occupation during World War II, was arrested and deported to Germany, and shot by a Nazi firing squad after repeated escape attempts.

Raymond Aimos (4 February 1889 – 22 August 1944) was a French film actor. He was shot and killed as a FFI combatant during the liberation of Paris.

Léon Brunschvicg (French: [leɔ̃ bʁœ̃svik]; 10 November 1869 – 18 January 1944) was a French Idealist philosopher. He co-founded the Revue de métaphysique et de morale with Xavier Léon and Élie Halévy in 1893.

Arthur Berriedale Keith (5 April 1879 – 6 October 1944) was a Scottish constitutional lawyer, scholar of Sanskrit and Indologist. He became Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology and Lecturer on the Constitution of the British Empire in the University of Edinburgh. He served in this role from 1914 to 1944.

Charles, Count de Lambert (30 December 1865, in Funchal – 26 February 1944, in Saint-Sylvain-d'Anjou) was an early European aviator.In 1904 Count Lambert built an experimental hydrofoil boat which was first tested in May 1904 on the River Seine near Paris. It had twin hulls and was powered by a 14HP De Dion-Bouton motor. Even with this modest power it was able to rise up on the hydrofoils until the hull just skimmed the water with only the propeller below the surface reaching a speed of 20 mph.De Lambert was the first person in France to be taught to fly by Wilbur Wright. The first lesson took place at Le Mans on 28 October 1908, and by August 1909 he owned 2 Wright biplanes. On 18 October 1909 de Lambert "left the Juvisy Aerodrome at 4:36 o'clock in a Wright machine, flew across Paris to the Eiffel Tower, circled it, and returned to his starting point, arriving safely at 5:25." De Lambert claimed that he flew 300 feet above the 1,000 foot Eiffel Tower, which was nearly equal to Orville Wright's height record set in Berlin.Lambert, along with Hubert Latham and Louis Blériot, was one of the three main contenders for the £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Mail for a successful crossing of the English Channel in an aeroplane, although he was not motivated by the monetary value. He took his pair of Wright Flyers (Nos. 2 and 18) and set up camp at Wissant to practice and wait for good weather. Latham made the first real attempt, but foundered and landed on the water, and Lambert damaged his 'Flyers' while practising. The prize was won by Louis Blériot on 25 July 1909.

Otto Frank (21 June 1865 – 12 November 1944) was a Grand Duchy of Hesse born medical doctor and physiologist who made contributions to cardiac physiology and cardiology. The Frank–Starling law of the heart is named after him and Ernest Starling.

Lucien Pissarro (20 February 1863 – 10 July 1944) was a French landscape painter, printmaker, wood engraver, designer, and printer of fine books. His landscape paintings employ techniques of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, but he also exhibited with Les XX. Apart from his landscapes, he painted a few still lifes and family portraits. Until 1890 he worked in France, but thereafter was based in Great Britain. He was the oldest son of the French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro and his wife Julie (née Vellay).

François Porché (born Cognac, November 21, 1877 - died Vichy, April 19, 1944) was a French dramatist, poet and literary critic. The French Academy awarded him the Grand Prix de Littérature in 1923. Les Butors et la Finette, a "symbolical and allegorical drama" premiered in 1917, Sam Abramovitch in 1927 (in New York City) and Un roi, deux dames et un valet in 1934. He published a war poem L' Arret sur la Marne in 1916 and a poetry collection called Charles Baudelaire in memory of the poet.

Raoul-Jacques Dietrich, better known as Luc Dietrich (17 March 1913, Dijon – 12 August 1944), was a French writer.
Dietrich was born in Dijon. His father died when he was very young, and his mother was ill and addicted to drugs. She was frequently incapable of taking care of her son; several times he was sent asylums and similar establishments. Shortly after Dietrich's release from one at the age of 18, his mother died.
In 1932 Dietrich met philosopher and poet Lanza del Vasto at the Parc Monceau in Paris. The first thing del Vasto said to Dietrich was "Are you as good as this bread?" The two became inseparable friends for the rest of Dietrich's short life. Lanza helped and mentored Dietrich in writing, although he always refused to be credited as a co-author. Another of Dietrich's famous friends was poet René Daumal. After becoming lightly wounded during a bombardment in 1944, Dietrich developed hemiplegia and then gangrene, and died the same year, aged 31.
He is best known today for his semi-autobiographical novel, Le Bonheur des tristes ("The Happiness of Sad People").