Ernst Ferdinand Emil Marlier (28 July 1875 – 1948) was a German pharmaceutical manufacturer who built the Wannsee Villa, where the Wannsee Conference was held.

Early years

Ernst Marlier was the son of Philipp Marlier (died c. 1902), a postal official, and Mathilda Marlier (''née'' Forkeln). After receiving commercial training in the Fuchs Book Factory, Marlier fulfilled his military service obligation in Infantry Regiment 22 in Kassel, after which he moved to Nuremberg. There, he was the proprietor of a shipping firm, Micado.

Drug maker

In 1903, Marlier settled in Berlin (Kurfürstenstrasse 173a, later Sternstrasse 22), where he founded multiple drug firms (Chemische Fabrik Dr. Schröder GmbH, Chemische Fabrik Dr. Hartmann GmbH, Chemische Fabrik Dr. Wagner und Marlier) and the coal wholesaler Julius Marlier. In 1905, the Pharmaceutical Institute of the University of Berlin determined that Marlier's remedies consisted primarily of tartaric acid, citric acid, sodium chloride and egg yolk. By 1907, Marlier was already having problems with police headquarters, which warned that Marlier's preparations “did not have the properties ascribed to them in their sales information.” Among the pharmaceuticals Marlier sold were ''Antipositin, Antineurasthin, Renascin, Slankal, Levathin, Visnervin, Vitalito'' and ''Hämasol''.

Assault charges

In 1904, Marlier was charged with battery and disturbance of the peace, and sentenced to six days in jail. In 1913, on the corner of Friedrichstraße and Jägerstraße, Marlier was arrested for assault and battery. According to the police, Marlier had slapped the face of a woman waiting at a cab stand. When two drivers intervened, Marlier beat them both. A policeman named Brandt saw the disturbance and approached, whereupon Marlier attacked him. According to the police report, Marlier was taken to the police precinct. A wild scene ensued, the furious Marlier accosting everyone in sight. Marlier was sentenced to pay a 600 mark fine. Marlier's wife divorced him in 1922 because he beat her.

Wannsee Villa

In 1914, Marlier engaged architect Paul Baumgarten (later a favorite architect of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

) to build a magnificent villa, overlooking the

Großer Wannsee The Großer Wannsee (, "Greater Wannsee", "See" means lake) is a bight of the Havel river near the locality of Wannsee and Nikolassee (in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf), a south-western suburb of the German capital Berlin not far from Pots ...

, in the Berlin suburb of

Wannsee Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger ''Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee, "See" means lake) and the ...

. However, Marlier was unable to retain the villa because of his business problems. In 1905, the Pharmaceutical Institute of Berlin determined that Marlier's medicines consisted of nothing more than

tartaric acid Tartaric acid is a white, crystalline organic acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, most notably in grapes, but also in bananas, tamarinds, and citrus. Its salt, potassium bitartrate, commonly known as cream of tartar, develops naturally ...

citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in ...

, sodium chloride, and egg yolk. In 1907, the German government forbade the sale of Marlier's ''Antipositin'' and ''Antineurasthin''. Marlier became involved in a tangle of legal troubles, and in 1921, he was forced to sell the Wannsee Villa to industrialist

Friedrich Minoux Friedrich Minoux (21 March 1877 – 16 October 1945) was a German industrialist and financier who is best known for being one of the owners of the Wannsee House, where the namesake conference that would decide the fate of millions at the ha ...

for 2,300,000 reichsmarks.

Wannsee Conference

On January 20, 1942,

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...

announced the

Final Solution to the Jewish Question The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...

(the deportation and extermination of all Jews in German-occupied territory) at the Wannsee Conference, which took place in the Wannsee Villa.

References

Bibliography

* Steven Lehrer. Wannsee House and the Holocaust. McFarland. Jefferson, N.C. 2000. * Steven Lehrer. Hitler Sites: A City-by-city Guidebook (Austria, Germany, France, United States). McFarland. Jefferson, N.C. 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marlier, Ernst 1875 births People of the Holocaust German businesspeople in the healthcare industry People of the German Empire German fraudsters Year of death missing Businesspeople from Bavaria Criminals from Bavaria