Illich family visits Bad Gastein, 1937
Creator(s)
- Yvonne Illich
- Ellen R. Illich (Camera Operator)
Biographical History
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.
Scope and Content
Out of focus in the center of the frame for a few seconds. The boys sit on a wooden fence in the country surrounding an unknown teenager. CUs, Grandfather Fritz (Pucki) at an outdoor café, then Sascha. At the train station, the boys lean their heads out of the train window, waving to Pucki, Leithner, and Uncle Paul on the platform. Leithner follows the train as it departs. View of another station, the boys walk through it (filmed from a distance). Mountains, farms from the train window. A train pulls into the platform with Pucki, the boys greet him with hugs. The city of Bad Gastein, waterfalls, mountain vistas. Micha exits Hotel der Kaiserhof with his grandfather. The boys sit along a wooden fence with their grandfather and the unknown teen. They hop over the fence and hike along a country road. Picturesque scene. Caged animals at a farm and a handsome dog. The boys wrestle in the grass and play on logs in the forest. The boys hike and backpack through lower Austria. Beautiful tree and mountain views, streams and waterfalls. Good shot of Ellen (Maexie) and the boys resting on boulders, eating apples. They continue hiking and make a campfire. They board a train to Zell am See, visit the town shops, and go swimming in a mountain lake, splashing each other and playing in the sand. Sunset and sunrise. Beautiful alpine vistas. The boys play with a dog and take a chairlift to the top of a mountain. A large group of friends gather with the Illich family in a country road, the older fellow swings the twins in a circle. One of the twins tries to feed cows walking on the road. View of log cabins and dirt road. (ends abruptly)
Note(s)
There is no burn-in time code on the DVD (user copy).
Subjects
- JEWISH LIFE (PRE-WAR)
- MOUNTAINS
- HOTELS
- DOGS
- EATING
- FARMERS/FARMING
- VACATIONS
- FAMILIES
- CAFES
- PLAYING
- JEWS
- SHOPS
- TRAINS
- ALPS MOUNTAINS
- TRAIN STATIONS
Places
- , Austria
- Bad Gastein, Austria
Genre
- Amateur.
- Film