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,
Sledding in snow in Brno in February 1940 in front of their home. Antonin and Michaela take turns on the sled in the streets of Brno with their nanny. They play in the snowy gardens behind the home, shoveling snow in toy wheelbarrows, and trudge through the deep snow. 01:01:14 The camerawoman and mother, Toni, films from indoors, note the window pane at the bottom of the frame. On the streets, a nanny throws a snowball at the children, “Benzol” advertisement in the BG. 01:02:56 A man sweeps snow on the roof of the family’s three-story house, showing a rare view of the house from the frontside. Sign: “Kavarna Restaurace…” The children play in the snow. 01:03:25 The man tosses snowballs from the roof. Good MS of the Michaela and Antonin in the snowy mounds. They walk along the shoveled sidewalk. End 01:04:30
Children play in the snow