List of Famous people who died in 2008

Nachman Dushanski was an officer of Soviet security agencies in the Lithuanian SSR for over thirty years. He was heavily involved in the suppression of the Lithuanian partisans who fought against the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. In Russia, he was regarded as a war hero and was awarded the Medal For Courage, Order of the Patriotic War, and Order of Lenin, while many Lithuanians perceived him as a war criminal for killing and torturing Lithuanian resistance fighters. In 1989, Dushanski immigrated to Israel. After Lithuania declared independence in 1990, Lithuanian prosecutors began a criminal case, but Israel refused to extradite him.

Marianne Kiefer was a German actress. Born in Dresden, she was the daughter of a married couple of artists. She died in Kreischa.

Fazıl Hüsnü Dağlarca was one of the most prolific Turkish poets of the Turkish Republic with more than 60 collections of his poems published as of 2007. He was a laureate of the Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award.

Abdel-Wahab El-Messiri was an Egyptian scholar, author and general coordinator of the opposition organization Kefaya.

Youssef Chahine was an Egyptian film director. He was active in the Egyptian film industry from 1950 until his death. A winner of the Cannes 50th Anniversary Award, Chahine was credited with launching the career of actor Omar Sharif. A well regarded director with critics, he was often present at film festivals during the earlier decades of his work, Chahine gained his largest international audiences as one of the co-directors of 11'9"01 September 11 (2002).

Anatoly Semyonovich Dneprov (Gross) was a Soviet and Russian singer, musician, composer and lyricist.

Alexey Alexeyevich Prokurorov was a Soviet/Russian cross-country skier who competed in the late 1980s and 1990s for both the Soviet Union and Russia.

Muhammad Abd Al-Halim Abu-Ghazala was Defense Minister of Egypt from 1981 to 1989. Abu Ghazala was seated next to Anwar Sadat when the president was assassinated.

Ellen Marx was a human rights activist. She was born in Germany and emigrated to Argentina, arriving in May 1939: she never saw her parents again. Her own youngest daughter disappeared when aged 28 in August 1976. After that Ellen Marx became a prominent member of the German-Jewish community in Buenos Aires and a leader in the German originating group within the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo movement.

Elfriede Kaun was a German high jumper.