Ernst Trendelenburg

{{Short description|German politician and civil servant (1882-1945)}} {{Copy edit|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | birth_date = {{birth date|1882|02|13}} | birth_place = Rostock, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Empire | death_date = {{death date and age|1945|04|28|1882|02|13|df=yes}} | death_place = Berlin-Dahlem, Gau Berlin, Nazi Germany | relatives = Friedrich Trendelenburg (father) Paul Trendelenburg (brother) Wilhelm Trendelenburg (brother) Ullrich Georg Trendelenburg (nephew) Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg (grandfather) | party = DDP (1918-1930) Independent (1930-1945) | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13987, Ernst Trendelenburg (cropped).jpg | image_upright = | caption = Trendelenburg in 1932. | office = Reich Minister of Economics | status =  | term_start = {{start date|1930|06|27}} | term_end = {{end date|1931|10|08|df=yes}} | president = Paul von Hindenburg | chancellor = Heinrich Brüning | predecessor = Hermann Dietrich | successor = Hermann Warmbold | term_start2 = {{start date|1932|05|06}} | term_end2 = {{end date|1932|05|30|df=yes}} | predecessor2 = Hermann Warmbold | successor2 = Hermann Warmbold | office3 = State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Economics | term_start3 = 1923 | term_end3 = 1932 | chancellor3 = Gustav Stresemann Hans Luther Wilhelm Marx Hermann Müller Heinrich Brüning | office4 = Head of the Reich Group Industry | term_start4 = 1935 | term_end4 = 1936 | alma_mater = University of Greifswald | occupation = Lawyer }}

'''Ernst Trendelenburg''' (13 February 1882 - 28 April 1945) was a German politician and civil servant of the DDP and later an independent politician in the Weimar Republic. He most notably served as Reich Minister of Economics for two terms, serving from 1930 to 1931 and as acting minister in 1932. Prior to this, he had served for 9 years as a State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Economics. Trendelenburg was also briefly Head of the Reich Group Industry from 1935 to 1936 in Nazi Germany.

Ernst Trendelenburg was born in Rostock on 13 February 1882, to surgeon Friedrich Trendelenburg. The Trendelenburgs had been a notable family as philologists and philosophers prior. He studied law during college, graduating from the University of Greifswald. After graduating, he was an unskilled worker, but eventually rose in the ranks when he transferred to the Reich Ministry of Economics in 1917 while being a senior member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG). He joined the DDP in 1918, and a year later was appointed Reichskommissar for Import and Export Permits, but he later went back to the Ministry of Economics where he became State Secretary until 1932. Later that year, he became Under-Secretary General to the League of Nations, where he helped lay the foundations for economics but he resigned after a year following Germany's withdrawal from the league.

In June 1930 he was appointed Reich Minister of Economics by chancellor Heinrich Brüning, due to him being non-partisan and supporting Brüning's policies. His time there saw the start of the European banking crisis of 1931. He supported foreign competition and breaking up cartels, and criticized government regulations on the economy. He left this role in October 1931, but served as acting minister in May 1932. After leaving, he served as Chairman of Vereinigte Industrieunternehmungen AG (VIAG) and Reichs-Kredit-Gesellschaft, but did not join the NSDAP although he worked closely with the Nazi regime. He was appointed Head of the Reichsgruppe Industrie for a year starting in 1935, and was later briefly Head of the Reich Iron Association (RVE) in 1942. He committed suicide in 1945 by overdosing on Veronal, a sleeping aid, after the rape of his daughter following the Battle of Berlin by Russian soldiers.

== Early life ==  Ernst Trendelenburg was born on 13 February 1882 in Rostock, then part of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the German Empire.<ref>{{cite book |title=The League from Year to Year (October 1st, 1931-December 31st, 1932) |date=1933 |publisher=Information Section, League of Nations |page=242 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OL03AAAAMAAJ&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+13+februari+1882+rostock |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> He was the son of Friedrich Trendelenburg, a prominent surgeon, and Charlotte Fabricius.<ref>{{cite book |title=Who's who in Commerce and Industry |date=1944 |publisher=Institute for Research in Biography |page=1286 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=01_M9L7QOQgC&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+13+februari+1882+rostock |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> Trendelenburg's had four brothers who were Wilhelm, Paul, Friedrich, and Ferdinand.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vierhaus |first1=Rudolf |title=Thies - Zymalkowski |date=3 May 2011 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-096381-6 |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MAlCv4xROAC&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%22wilhelm%22+Bruder&pg=PA93 |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Vierhaus |first1=Rudolf |last2=Brocke |first2=Bernhard Vom |title=Forschung im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Gesellschaft: Geschichte und Struktur der Kaiser-Wilhelm-/Max-Planck-Gesellschaft : aus Anlass ihres 75jährigen Bestehens |date=1990 |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |isbn=978-3-421-02744-3 |page=50 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f7PaAAAAMAAJ&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%22Friedrich%22+Bruder+1878 |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref><ref name="biographie">{{cite web |title=Trendelenburg, Ernst - Deutsche Biographie |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd128547111.html#ndbcontent |website=www.deutsche-biographie.de |language=de}}</ref> Their paternal grandfather was Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg, a philosopher and philologist, who specialized in Aristotelianism and German idealism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hachtmann |first1=Rüdiger |title=Wissenschaftsmanagement im "Dritten Reich": Geschichte der Generalverwaltung der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft |date=2007 |publisher=Wallstein Verlag |isbn=978-3-8353-0108-5 |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gu-0HL0SLLcC&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%22Gro%C3%9Fvater%22+Friedrich+Adolf+Trendelenburg&pg=PA151 |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref>

He initially attended the Städtisches Gymnasium in Bonn, but then transferred to the St. Thomas School in Leipzig.<ref name="biographie" /> He completed his abitur in 1900. After Trendelenburg completed his abitur, he studied medicine for a brief period, but in 1901 he began studying law at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig.<ref name="biographie" /> In 1903 he began a clerkship.<ref name="archivs">{{cite web |title=Kurzbiographien der Personen in den "Akten der Reichskanzlei, Weimarer Republik" |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0011/adr/adrsz/kap1_2/para2_94.html |website=www.bundesarchiv.de |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> In 1904 he graduated from the University of Greifswald with a doctorate in law, with a thesis on the acquisition of property by representatives through common law and the German Civil Code.<ref>{{cite book |title=Jahresverzeichnis der deutschen Hochschulschriften |date=1906 |publisher=VEB Verlag für Buch- und Bibliothekswesen. |page=197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCA_AQAAMAAJ&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221904%22+Greifswald&pg=PA197 |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref>

In 1908 he became an unskilled worker in the Reich Ministry of Justice.<ref>{{cite book |title=Handbuch des öffentlichen Lebens |date=1932 |publisher=Verlag K.F. Koehler |page=973 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwYLAQAAIAAJ&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221908%22+Reichsjustizamt&pg=PA973 |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> He later went to the Reich Office of the Interior, prior to 1917.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Müller-Jabusch |first1=Maximilian |title=Handbuch des öffentlichen Lebens: Staat, Politik, Wirtschaft, Verkehr, Kirche, Presse ... |date=1927 |publisher=K. F. Koehler |page=563 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2gKAAAAIAAJ&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%22Reichsamt+des+Innern%22&pg=PA563 |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ehlert |first1=Hans Gotthard |title=Die wirtschaftliche Zentralbehörde des Deutschen Reiches 1914 bis 1919: das Problem der "Gemeinwirtschaft" in Krieg und Frieden |date=1982 |publisher=In Kommission bei F. Steiner |isbn=978-3-515-03938-3 |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMECAAAAMAAJ&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%22Reichsamt+des+Innern%22 |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> During this time, from 1912 to 1920, he was also Secretary General of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG), a scientific institution.<ref>{{cite book |title=Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus: Gemeinschaftsforschung, Bevollmächtigte und der Wissenstransfer : die Rolle der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im System kriegsrelevanter Forschung des Nationalsozialismus |date=2007 |publisher=Wallstein |page=108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=45goAQAAIAAJ&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221912%22+KWG |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> In 1917 he went to the newly-created Reich Ministry of Economics as a counsellor.<ref name="archivs" /> By April 1918 he had risen to being Privy Councillor and Lecturer Councillor.<ref name="biographie" /> In his time at the ministry in the late 1910s, he often worked closely with Wichard von Moellendorf, helping to negotiate with the ''Zentralarbeitsgemeinschaft'' (Central Working Group).<ref>{{cite book |title=Die Anpassung an die Inflation / The Adaptation to Inflation |date=5 July 2013 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-085460-2 |pages=499, 508 |doi=10.1515/9783110854602 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110854602/html |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de |editor-last1=Feldman |editor-last2=Holtfrerich |editor-last3=Ritter |editor-last4=Witt |editor-first1=Gerald D. |editor-first2=Carl-Ludwig |editor-first3=Gerhard A. |editor-first4=Peter-Christian }}</ref> As an official of the Office of Economics, he also participated in the Brussels International Financial Conference of 1920.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foundation |first1=World Peace |title=World Peace Foundation Pamphlets, V.1-12, October 1917-August 1930 |date=1927 |publisher=World Peace Foundation |page=384 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTwfAQAAMAAJ&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221917%22&pg=PA384 |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

== Political career == === Early career === [[Image:15-9-25 (entrevue économique franco-allemande au) Ministère du commerce (à Paris) M. Trendelenbourg (i.e. Trendelenburg) - btv1b53153011x.jpg|thumb|left|Trendelenburg in 1925 at an interview for the economic relations between France and Germany in the Ministry of Commerce in Paris.]]  After World War One, he joined the DDP in 1918. A year later, in 1919, he became Reichskommissar for Import and Export Permits, a position he would hold until 1922.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kühlem |first1=Kordula |title=Carl Duisberg (1861-1935): Briefe eines Industriellen |date=25 July 2012 |publisher=Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag |isbn=978-3-486-71283-4 |page=350 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1IDhjZ1yOwC&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221919%22+Reichskommissar |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Wirtschaftspolitik in Deutschland 1917–1990 |date=2016 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-046290-6 |quote=1919 bis 1920 war Ernst Trendelenburg, später Hirschs Nachfolger als Staatssekretär, Reichskommissar für Aus- und Einfuhrbewilligung. Bis in die letzten Monate der Weimarer Republik bekleidete er verschiedene Ämter. In den Krisenjahre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXcDDgAAQBAJ&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221919%22+Reichskommissar&pg=PT435 |access-date=3 February 2025}}</ref> He also monitored foreign commerce while serving as Reichskommissar because he was convinced that the low value of the Reichsmark would lead to the selling of goods from foreign investors and said that state regulations would ensure that Germany was not at a disadvantage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Müller |first1=Philipp |title=The Rise and Fall of the 'World Economy' in Weimar Germany |journal=German History |date=December 2023 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=536–555 |doi=10.1093/gerhis/ghad047}}</ref> In September 1922, he was appointed Ministerial Director in charge of Department II, the Industrial Department, of the Reich Ministry of Economics.<ref>{{cite news |title=Die Besetzung des Staatssekretariats im Reichswirtschaftsministerium |url=https://pm20.zbw.eu/mirador/?manifestId=https://pm20.zbw.eu/iiif/folder/pe/035266/manifest.json |access-date=3 February 2025 |work=Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung |date=29 December 1922}}</ref> After this, he was appointed State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Economics a year later, an important position he would hold until 1932.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hachtmann |first1=Rüdiger |title=Wissenschaftsmanagement im "Dritten Reich": Geschichte der Generalverwaltung der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft |date=2007 |publisher=Wallstein Verlag |isbn=978-3-8353-0108-5 |page=573 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gu-0HL0SLLcC&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221923%22+Staatssekret%C3%A4r&pg=PA573 |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> In this role he was responsible for industrial bonds in response to the passing of the Dawes Plan.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Dawes Plan in Operation |work=The Congressional Digest |date=November 1924}}</ref> He also opposed any raise in premiums at the height of unemployment, contrary to experts who called for a raise of 0.5%.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clingan |first1=C. Edmund |title=Finance from Kaiser to Fuhrer: Budget Politics in Germany, 1912-1934 |date=30 November 2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-09529-0 |page=162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ObEEAAAQBAJ&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%22Young-Plan%22&pg=PA162 |access-date=5 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1932 he was appointed Under-Secretary General, representing Germany, to the League of Nations.<ref>{{cite book |title=Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft |date=2006 |publisher=Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften |page=848 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WaBmAAAAMAAJ&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221932%22+Untergeneralsekret%C3%A4r |access-date=4 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> In this role he laid the foundations for the economics of the League of Nations and helped create the World Economic Conference, but had very little success because of the lasting World War One economies and nationalism.<ref>{{cite news |title=Völkerbund - Zum Rücktritt von Dr. Trendelenburg |url=https://pm20.zbw.eu/mirador/?manifestId=https://pm20.zbw.eu/iiif/folder/pe/035266/manifest.json |access-date=3 February 2025 |work=Neue Zurcher Zeitung |date=28 August 1932}}</ref> On 21 October 1933 Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, and as a consequence Trendelenburg also announced his resignation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Trendelenburg tritt zurück |url=https://pm20.zbw.eu/mirador/?manifestId=https://pm20.zbw.eu/iiif/folder/pe/035266/manifest.json |access-date=3 February 2025 |work=Berliner Tageblatt |date=21 October 1933}}</ref> He was also Chairman of the Geneva Economic Committee at the League of Nations during this time.<ref>{{cite news |title=Der neue Untergeneralsekretär des Völkerbundes |url=https://pm20.zbw.eu/mirador/?manifestId=https://pm20.zbw.eu/iiif/folder/pe/035266/manifest.json |access-date=3 February 2025 |work=Internationale Wirtschaft |date=December 1932}}</ref>

=== Reich Minister of Economics === On 27 June 1930 he took over the Reich Ministry of Economics, who was non-partisan and supported then-chancellor Heinrich Brüning, but who would not win over support in the Reichstag.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Winkler |first1=Heinrich August |title=Weimar 1918 - 1933: die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie |date=2005 |publisher=C.H.Beck |isbn=978-3-406-43884-4 |page=378 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5qqLpiJNLoC&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221918%22+DDP&pg=PA378 |access-date=3 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> He considered a reduction in the cost of living to be only possible if the food prices were to go down, because there was a lack of confidence in public finances.<ref name="july">{{cite web |title=Die Kabinette Brüning I und II. Band 1 (Edition "Akten der Reichskanzlei, Weimarer Republik") |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/bru/bru1p/kap1_2/kap2_66/para3_1.html?highlight=true&search=Trendelenburg&stemming=true&pnd=&start=&end=&field=all#highlightedTerm |website=www.bundearchiv.de |access-date=4 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> He instead suggested allowing foreign competition and breaking up cartels and to have wage reductions.<ref name="july" /> He urged the entire cabinet to require the negotiation of labor contracts saying that trade unions shared responsibility for lowering wages that lead to reduced unemployment, a statement that was harshly criticized by workers.<ref name="weimar">{{cite book |last1=Jr |first1=William L. Patch |last2=Patch |first2=William L. |title=Heinrich Bruning and the Dissolution of the Weimar Republic |date=30 March 2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-02541-6 |pages=159, 191 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mMwtksPDkIkC&q=Trendelenburg |access-date=4 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> He also believed that the government regulations needed to be loosened on the economy.<ref name="weimar" /> He resigned his first term on 8 October 1931, and was succeeded by Hermann Warmbold.

He again returned as acting minister from 6 May to 30 May 1932 after Warmbold resigned.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pieck |first1=Wilhelm |title=Reden und Aufsätze |date=1950 |publisher=Dietz |page=780 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OBgRAQAAMAAJ&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%2230+mai+1932%22 |access-date=4 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Deutschland: Die Reichsregierungen 1930-33 |url=https://www.gonschior.de/weimar/Deutschland/Reg-RT5-8.html#Bruening2 |website=www.gonschior.de |access-date=4 February 2025}}</ref>

=== Later career and Nazi collaboration === In 1934 he became Chairman of the Supervisory Boards Vereinigte Industrieunternehmungen AG (VIAG), a conglomerate for industrial holdings, and the state-owned bank Reichs-Kredit-Gesellschaft.<ref name="archivs" /> Although not a member of the NSDAP, instead remaining independent, he worked closely with the Nazi Party especially because of its influence on the VIAG.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Belli |first1=Peter Josef |title=Das Lautawerk der Vereinigte Aluminium-Werke AG (VAW) von 1917 bis 1948: ein Rüstungsbetrieb in regionalen, nationalen, internationalen und politischen Kontexten : (zugleich ein Beitrag zur Industriegeschichte der Niederlausitz) |date=2012 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-11716-8 |page=203 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRL6P-FkNYYC&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+28+abril+1932&pg=PA203 |access-date=4 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref>

In 1935 he was appointed Head of the Reichsgruppe Industrie, which represented the interests of the German industry, which he continued until a year later.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kahn |first1=Daniela |title=Die Steuerung der Wirtschaft durch Recht im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland: das Beispiel der Reichsgruppe Industrie |date=2006 |publisher=Klostermann |isbn=978-3-465-04012-5 |page=220 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZOGAAAAIAAJ&q=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221935%22+Reichsgruppe+Industrie |access-date=5 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref> He was also the first honorary head of the Export Community for War Equipment (AGK) during this time, which was then a department of the Reichsgruppe, which was a collaboration between the Waffenamt and the Reich Economic Office to act as a self-governing body of the armaments industry and promote arms exports.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leitz |first1=C. M. |title=Arms Exports from the Third Reich, 1933-1939: The Example of Krupp |journal=The Economic History Review |date=1998 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=133–154 |doi=10.1111/1468-0289.00086 |jstor=2599695 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2599695 |access-date=4 February 2025 |language=en |issn=0013-0117|url-access=subscription }}</ref> That same year he joined the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Berlin,<ref name="biographie" /> and served on the Joint Committee established to stabilize the international economic situation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rosengarten |first1=Monika |title=Die Internationale Handelskammer |date=2023 |publisher=Duncker & Humblot |isbn=978-3-428-50411-4 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zD3sFvd39G4C&dq=Ernst+Trendelenburg+%221935%22+Internationalen+Handelskammer&pg=PA63 |access-date=5 February 2025 |language=de}}</ref>

Over the following years, he would stay as chairman of VIAG. He notably criticized the Anglo-American Treaty of 1938, as he questioned whether they were really serving reconstruction and friendly cooperation, and are instead having a policy of high protectionism which he said caused the Great Depression.<ref>{{cite news |title=Der englisch-amerikanische Handelsvertag |url=https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/newspaper/item/EJ23KEFJ6FGDY7QZDW535XTYH5VJ5TGT?query=%22Ernst+Trendelenburg%22&lang=en&fromDay=24&fromMonth=4&fromYear=1935&toDay=4&toMonth=5&toYear=1944&hit=2&issuepage=15 |access-date=5 February 2025 |work=Stuttgarter NS-Kurier |date=2 July 1938 |language=en}}</ref> In 1942, upon the creation of the Reich Iron Association (RVE), he served briefly as its head.<ref name="biographie" />

== Personal life == He was married to Cläre, the daughter of physician Gustav Schaede.<ref name="biographie" /> He had three children: Karin, Peter, and another daughter.<ref name="foo-bar">{{cite book |last1=Hürlimann |first1=Bettina |title=Seven houses : my life with books |date=1976 |publisher=Bodley Head |location=London |isbn=978-0-370-10374-7 |page=43 |url=https://archive.org/details/sevenhousesmylif0000hurl/page/42/mode/2up?q=ernst |access-date=5 February 2025}}</ref> After Karin, Ernst, and Cläre committed suicide, the other daughter would follow a year later, and Peter later moved to the United States.<ref name="foo-bar" />

== Death == Ernst, Cläre, and Karin committed suicide following their code of honor after their 16-year daughter, Karin, was raped after the Battle of Berlin by Russian soldiers.<ref name="foo-bar" /> They committed suicide by overdosing on Veronal, a common sleeping aid.<ref name="n">{{cite book |last1=Lepsius |first1=Juliane |title=Es taucht in Träumen wieder auf : Schicksale seit 1933 |date=1991 |publisher=Droste |location=Düsseldorf |isbn=978-3-7700-0939-8 |page=39 |url=https://archive.org/details/estauchtintraume0000leps/page/38/mode/2up?q=peter |access-date=5 February 2025}}</ref>

== References ==

== External links == * [https://archive.org/details/trendelenburg-friedrich-1921-geschichte-der-familie-trendelenburg-fur-kinder-und-enkel/mode/2up?q=1878 A book about the Trendelenburg family] on the Internet Archive * [https://www.ifz-muenchen.de/heftarchiv/1977_4_13_danzl.pdf Hans Schäffer's Memories of Ernst Trendelenburg:]. Hans Schäffer also rose through the ranks of the Reich Ministry of Economics during Trendelenburg's times and was his aide, but they stopped corresponding due to Ernst's role in Nazi Germany with Schäffer being Jewish.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trendelenburg, Ernst}} Category:Government ministers of Germany Category:Economy ministers of Germany Category:German Democratic Party politicians Category:German State Party politicians Category:1882 births Category:1945 deaths Category:1945 suicides Category:League of Nations people Category:Politicians from Rostock Category:University of Bonn alumni Category:Leipzig University alumni Category:University of Greifswald alumni Category:Collaborators with Nazi Germany