Ellen (Maexie) Regenstreif Illich (1901-1965) came from a family of converted Sephardic Jews who had settled in Germany. Her industrialist father, Fritz (Pucki) Regenstreif (1868-1941), had a lumber business in Bosnia where he owned a sawmill at Zavidovic and an Art Nouveau villa on the outskirts of Vienna in Pötzleinsdorf built by Friedrich Ohmann. Piero Ilic (1890-1942) came from a landed family in Dalmatia, Yugoslavia with property in Split and extensive wine and olive oil producing estates on the island of Brac. Ellen and Piero married in 1925 and established a home in Split. There was a resurgence of anti-foreign and anti-Jewish sentiment in Yugoslavia, so in 1932, Ellen returned to her father's villa in Vienna with their three children: Ivan (1926-2002), Michael (Micha) (b. 1928), and Alexander (Sascha) (1928-2009). Piero died of natural causes in Split in July 1942 (the boys never saw their father after they moved to Vienna). After the death of Fritz Regenstreif on May 8, 1941, the splendid home was taken by the Nazis in a forced sale, and Maexie moved into a pension in Vienna with the children. In Nazi Austria, Maexie was considered an ethnic Jew although she was a baptized Christian, and the children were classified as half-Jewish. In 1942, they made their way to Florence by way of Split, where they lived for three months. Later, Maexie made her way to the United States, where she died in 1965.
There is no burn-in time code on the DVD (user copy).
More scenes of life and the family visit to Bad Gastein, beginning with a farmer and his boys shoveling hay into a wagon. The family eats at an outside restaurant. The boys walk along a path in the mountains with their grandfather Fritz (and a nanny/host?). Waterfall. The boys enjoy another meal outdoors. The family takes a carriage ride through the city, and into the mountains. The boys pick flowers and rocks for their grandfather, who rests on a boulder, and then they thank him with hugs. Countryside. Cows meander about on a country road, near village homes. The boys ride horses and walk along mountain paths. The family eats outdoors, surrounded by tall mountains. The boys hike along a rocky path. Views of the countryside and homes. A hiker and his three dogs. River. The boys snack and then bid farewell to their new friends (hotel staff of Hotel Germania seen earlier in Story 1253 at 04:06:26), who pose for a group shot. They load a bus with their luggage and take off from the Bad Gastein rail station (good views). Countryside from the window of the train.
Illich family visits Bad Gastein, 1936