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.
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,
Michaela and Antonin dressed as angels, singing for the camera beside the Christmas tree in 1939. INTs, a decorated Christmas tree at the Eckstein home in Brno. Children in costume pose and touch the dangling ornaments. They kneel beside the ornamental manger under the tree, hold their hands in prayer and sing for the camera. Pan up, star on top of the tree. 01:02:21 Toys. The children, in different outfits, perform a skit for the camera in a different room. Back beside the tree, the nanny guides them through a song and helps them place more ornaments on the tree. She entertains them with a doll. End 01:04:24
Christmas in Brno, prewar