Blanche Eichel was born Blanka Bachner to Julius (b. 13/02/1874) and Etel (née Weiss, b. 22/01/1878) on 24 April 1913 in Trstená. Her family were German speaking. She must have come to Britain in 1939, where she married Dezider Eichel, in London on 2 March 1940. They settled in Britain, becoming British citizens in 1948.

Both Blanche’s parents were murdered in the Holocaust: the Nazis deported them to unknown camps in September 1942; Blanche was never able to discover their exact fate.

Dezider Eichel was the son of Salamon and Irma (née Spitz). He was born on 8 June 1909 in Ružomberok. He studied business in Oprava at a German-language school and worked for a time for a logistics company in Hamburg. He came to London, registering with the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia on 13 April 1939. When he married Blanche, he was working as a baker. Dezider died on 6 October 1986 in London.