Described on his wedding cerificate as a businessman living in Breslau, born in Militsch.

According to a letter from his son Fritz, Ernst learnt the leather industry in Ulm and had a business in Poststrasse, Berlin named Halberstaedter und Zorek.

Ernst's date of death is given by his son Fritz variously as 16/02/1940 and 28/02/1940; the latter is also given on his tombstones in Weissensee cemetery (both that photographed by his son Fritz, and its more recent replacement photographed by my father in May 2011), so this date is assumed to be correct.

Ernst appears in the Berlin address books from 1894 when he is described as a leather wholesaler. From 1896 Halberstaedter & Zorek is listed, described as leather agents and owned by E Halberstaedter and M Zorek. From 1899 Ernst is described as a businessman, and Halberstaedter & Zorek is described as a leather wholesaler owned by E Halberstaedter and J Brasch. E Halberstadter is listed as the sole owner of Halberstaedter & Zorek from 1905 until its last appearance in the Berlin address books in 1912.



The entry for M Zorek in the 1897 Berlin address book gives an address of Landsbergerstrasse 56 III and a cross-reference to the entry for Halberstaedter & Zorek. The 1897 death certificate for 43-year old businessman Moritz Moses Zorek gives the same address.



Ernst is absent from the Berlin address books in 1914-15. JRI-Poland notes that Gertrud divorced him in 1914. From 1916 onwards the Berlin address books list Gertrud and Ernst at different addresses, although both under the Halberstaedter surname.

Ernst continues to be listed as a businessman until 1934, apart from one year, 1928, when he is not listed and his address at Wilmersdorf, Joachim Friedrichstr. 28 is listed under his brother Georg's name. An Ernst is also listed in Wilmersdorf in 1938-39.

Ernst's second cousin Felix Haase is reported to have sold his family's leather factory in Rybnik to the Zurek brothers in 1921. It is tempting to speculate that Zurek in Silesia and Zorek in Berlin were branches of the same family. The Zurek family also bought up a bankrupt leather factory in nearby Brzezie, between Rybnik and Raciborz, in 1936.

Photo of Ernst as a young man - archive.org: Fred Halbers collection.
Photo of Ernst as an older man - archive.org: Fred Halbers collection.