us-005578-irn718939
type: RecordSet
biographical history: 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.
date: 1939 June 28
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 2
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: Silent
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn718939
note: These are the only images of Antonie Eckstein-Bloch across the home movie collection.
note: 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,
scope and content: June 1939. The children in striped jackets outdoors in their garden in Bítýška. Greenhouse. 01:01:13 Pan of the family home at Vev. Bítýška. 01:01:20 The children ride the carousel with the nanny in a checkered jacket. 01:01:54 Michael helps Antonín off the carousel. 01:02:00 The family and nanny pose for a portrait in the funhouse mirror (notice mother Toni with the camera standing at right behind her son Antonín). Very brief shot of only the couple, Toni and Michael, at 01:02:08. [These are the only images of mother Toni across the films]. Antonin and Michaela play in piles of hay in their garden at the cottage in Bítýška. They grab rakes and do yard work. An older boy waters the plants. A gardener trims the lawn by hand. End 01:04:20
title: The Eckstein family at a fair and playing in their garden