- May 1 Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian Christian leader who founded the evangelical Brunstad Christian Church, dies at 71
- May 3 Leslie Heward, English composer, dies at 45
- May 5 Andy Minder, American jockey (Kentucky Derby 1907), dies from a heart attack at 62
- May 5 Gordon Hewart, British judge "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done" (Lord Chief Justice 1922-40), dies at 73
Mordecai Anielewicz (1919-1943)
May 8 Jewish commander of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, suspected to have committed suicide at 24 rather than surrender to Nazi troops that had surrounded his command bunker
- May 10 Andre Bertulot, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
- May 10 Arnaud/Armand Fraiteur, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
- May 10 Maurice-Albert Raskin, Belgian resistance fighter, hanged
- May 11 Szmul Zygielbojm, Jewish-Polish socialist politician (Bund) and activist, commits suicide to protest Allied indifference to the Holocaust during WWII at 48
- May 12 Albert Stoessel, American violinist, conductor, composer, and educator, dies of a heart attack on the podium at 48
- May 14 Henri La Fontaine, Belgian international lawyer (1st Socialist to win Nobel Peace Prize 1913), dies at 89
- May 16 Alfred Hoche, German psychiatrist (b. 1865)
- May 17 Montagu Love, actor (Wind), dies at 65
- May 19 Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter and one of the founders of the Estonian National Museum, dies at 77
- May 22 Helen Herron Taft, American First lady (1909-13) wife of President William Howard Taft, planted Washington's cherry trees, dies at 81
- May 24 Vladimir I Nemirovitch-Dantshenko, Russian playwright, dies at 84
- May 25 Nils Dardel, Swedish post-impressionist painter, dies at 54
- May 26 Edsel Ford, American President of Ford Motor Company (1919-1943) and son of Henry Ford, dies of stomach cancer aged 49
- May 29 Hermann Hans Wetzler, German-American composer, dies at 72
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning