Ernst Marcus, Breslau, Collection 1908-1983 Bulk dates: 1954-1980

This collection contains materials relating to Breslau lawyer Ernest Frederick (Ernst Friedrich) Marcus. Correspondence is mostly personal, primarily with family and friends originally from Breslau, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Other materials include documents pertaining to his work in Breslau, and general documents and correspondence relating to the Jews of Breslau. Also included are photographs and some educational, military, and vital records. Materials relating to Marcus' wife Lucie Ritter Marcus include samples of commercial and personal artwork, professional correspondence, and ephemera.Ernest Frederick Marcus (September 20, 1890, Breslau - December 31, 1982, San Francisco) was born to Leopold Marcus (d. 1910) and Isidore (Doris) née Gomma (1867-circa 1942) in Breslau. He attended the gymnasium "Zum Heiligen Geist" in Breslau and studied law at the universities of Munich and Breslau. He served in the German army during World War One, earning an Iron Cross, second class in 1917. In 1919 he became an attorney in Breslau. In 1921, he married Lucie Ritter (1895-1967), daughter of Gustav (Moses Gerschel) Ritter and Luise née Salamonski. Marcus was able to keep practicing law despite the 1933 anti-Semitic laws barring Jews from the professions due to the exemption for World War One veterans. He and his wife emigrated to Holland in September 1938 and then to New York. They soon left for Los Angeles, and in the 1950s settled in San Francisco. He worked as a bookkeeper and accountant in the United States. Marcus had a particular interest in the history of ethnic Germans expelled from eastern Europe after World War Two.See memoirs ME 423 ; ME 1204Photographs removed to Photograph CollectionProcesseddigitize