Degner, his older sister and their mother fled from their home in Gleiwitz (now Gliwice, Poland) to avoid the advancing Red Army and wound up in Luckau, German Democratic Republic (East Germany) at the end of the war.

The ZPH proved faster than the East German factory IFAs (later renamed MZ), whose machines were also based on the DKW RT 125.

Degner started his employment with MZ on 1 March 1956, and raced successfully for the East German manufacturer, which used two-stroke engines.

Just three weeks later (on 30 June 1961), Degner secretly signed a counsulting contract with Suzuki at the Dutch TT races in Assen.

Armed with a Suzuki racing contract, Degner now started planning his own, and his family's, escape to the west.

Degner then arranged for the escape of his family from the GDR in a car trunk on the weekend of 16-17 September 1961 while he was racing in the Swedish Grand Prix at Kristianstad.

After the race, Degner drove not his own Wartburg car, but that of Matsumiya to Gedser, Denmark where he caught the ferry to Holstein-Grossenbrode, West Germany.

[2] Using the specialized two-stroke loop scavenge knowledge he had gained and perfected for himself at MZ, Degner improved Suzuki's new 50cc and 125cc racers.

[1][5] On 3 November 1962 at Suzuka's inaugural race meeting, Degner crashed when a gust of wind lifted the front wheel of his Suzuki 50cc racer as he rounded Turn 8.

The curve he fell at was named the 'Degner curve'.At the Japanese Grand Prix of 10 November 1963, after a bad start, Degner was last off the grid and crashed his Suzuki 250cc racer on his first lap at the exit to Turn 2 of the Suzuka Circuit.

In his autobiography,[9] Degner's Suzuki teammate Hugh Anderson stated: As we came out of the first corner on the start of the second lap, we were confronted with frantically waved yellow flags and a great cloud of smoke and flames.

Frank [Perris] had stopped and marshals, after dragging Ernst from the flames, were busy with their fire extinguishers trying to control the inferno fuelled by 25 litres of petrol.

[1] After dabbling with single-seater car racing, he worked for a spell as technical manager at Suzuki's German importer in Munich.

[2] Rumors persisted for years that he had committed suicide or was murdered by the East German Stasi to avenge his defection.