Ernst 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, where he changed his first name to Ernest. 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.
From the guide to the Ernst Marcus (Breslau) Collection, undated, 1908-1983, bulk 1954-1980, (Leo Baeck Institute)
