Ernst was born in Rostock in the German Empire, the son of prominent surgeon Friedrich Trendelenburg.

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.

Afer 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 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.

Ernst Trendelenburg was born on 13 February 1882 in Rostock, then part of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the German Empire.

[3][4][5] Their paternal grandfather was Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg, a philosopher and philologist, who specialized in Aristotelianism and German idealism.

[26] 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.

[27] He urged the entire cabinet to require the negotation 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.

[29][30] 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.

[33] That same year he joined the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Berlin,[5] and served on the Joint Committee established to stabilize the international economic situation.

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.

[36] After Karin, Ernst, and Cläre committed suicide, the other daughter would follow a year later, and Peter later moved to the United States.