Ernes Merck

Ernes Merck, born in Stolp in Pomerania (now Słupsk in Poland) as Ernestina Rogalla von Bieberstein, became the wife of the Darmstadt pharmaceutical manufacturer Wilhelm Merck in October 1918 and, like him, took part in many motorsport events in Benz, Mercedes and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. In the 1920s, she was the only woman to pursue motorsport on a professional basis – at the same time an absolute novelty in a male-dominated sport.

In 1926, for example, she won the South German Touring Tour with a Benz, and the following year she won the first ladies' prize at the Wiesbaden Automobile Tournament in a Mercedes. Among her greatest successes was a third place finish in August 1927. She achieved the second-best time in the Klausenpass race, in a Mercedes-Benz Model S behind Rudolf Caracciola and came third in the sports car category. Three weeks later, she won the first ladies' prize at the Krähberg race in Mercedes-Benz. On 25 November 1927, not even ten months after the birth of her son Peter, the young mother took her own life.

What remains for posterity is that with her, who was occasionally faster than her husband, and contemporaries such as Elisabeth Junek from Prague, women made their mark on racing for the first time in the 1920s. In addition, Ernes Merck served as inspiration for the well-known advertisement by graphic artist Edward Cucuel "Offelsmeyer" with the motif "Woman in Red", published in 1928 and showing her in a red racing suit in front of a Mercedes-Benz Model S.