Antonie (Toni) Eckstein-Bloch was adopted by Františka Kapoun (1873–1931), a Catholic housekeeper for the Bloch family. Toni’s first husband Emerich Schmeer (married in 1917) was killed in WW1 when he had to return to the battlefields. After the death of her step-father, Leopold Bloch, in March 1933, Toni became the successor of the Bloch properties in Brno and Veverská Bítýška. She married Leopold's close friend, Dr. Michael Eckstein, a Jew who was nearly 20 years her senior in March 1934. Toni and Michael lived primarily in two homes: Hlínky 35 (a prestigious boulevard with tram connections to the center of Brno in a bourgeois neighborhood) and the summer residence at Veverská Bítýška [Eichhorn-Bitischka] 238. Both properties are prominently pictured in Toni's films. Toni and Michael had two children, Michaela (born April 27, 1935) and Antonín (born October 19, 1936). Michael chose to move away from his Catholic wife, Toni, and the children on August 14, 1940 in order to protect the family. They officially divorced on September 19, 1940. In the last years of war Toni and the children stayed in Veverska Bityska, where they survived. Michael Ekstein was born in Galicia in 1873 and moved to Brno (Brünn) as a child. He was a lawyer. He and his wife, Antonie (Toni) Eckstein-Bloch (married in 1934) lived in Brno at Hlínky 35. In an effort to save his Catholic wife and children, Michaela (b. 1935) and Antonín (b. 1936), After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Michael divorced Toni in September 1940 and relocated to their home in Brno at Zeile 12. He maintained correspondence with his wife and children. Michael was deported to Terezin in April 1942 on transport Ai, č. 226 (08. 04. 1942, Brno -> Terezín https://www.holocaust.cz/databaze-obeti/obet/81503-michal-eckstein/) and died there on August 12, 1942. Toni and the children survived in Veverská Bítýška.
Refer to the files for digital copies of the tragic correspondence and diary entries written by Michael Eckstein after he separated from his wife and children in August 1940 and moved into the apartment at Zeile 12,
Note about the film reel from Antonin (made in the 1990s): the first strip is the second, second the first
January 1939. Sledding in the snow near home in Brno on the street v Hlinkách (Hlínky 35). 01:00:11 CU Antonín bundled up in the sled with nanny in a checkered jacket. They pass a wine cellar, she waves to the camera, both children pulled in sleds. Poster; restaurant. A lady skis by the family. 01:00:47 Michael Eckstein looks at the camera walking in the snowy streets of Brno, he watches the children race down the street and play in the snow. Snowballs. Quick view of sign for Vystaviště. End 01:02:05 01:02:10 HAS, Playing in the snow at the empty fairground / exhibition area in Brno (Vystaviště). The children take turns sledding down snowy hills, waving to the camera. 01:03:47 Packard automobile with M-1034 plate. MS, quick pan of snowy fairgrounds without people. End 01:04:19
Sledding in Brno