Translations:Otto Eckart (Da VIII 23)/12/en

Otto with his family on his 50^th birthday, March 8, 1927.

In 1928, Otto joined the "Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten" (Steel Helmet, League of Front-Line Soldiers), the paramilitary wing of the antidemocratic German National People's Party DNVP. In 1930, Otto and Anita became grandparents for the first time. Their first-born daughter Ruth Eckart had married the business and political economist Fritz Reuter in 1929. Their first son Johannes Reuter was born on August 28, 1930, in Berlin.

Between 1931 and 1933, Otto Eckart’s family lived at Prinzregentenstrasse 7 in Munich for two years. Despite the pretentious apartment in the heart of Munich, it was a financially difficult time for Otto Eckart’s family. The Great Depression had severely affected the new company, such that it had to declare bankruptcy again in 1932. The estate in Poing was leased, the affiliated agricultural holding and the livestock was sold or leased. Otto built on his good reputation as a businessman to obtain enough capital through mortgages and credits in order to found a new company: The company "Otto Eckart" was founded in Munich on July 1, 1932. The business areas included the production of fruit juice and canned food but also the wholesale of groceries. Otto’s contact with the "Stahlhelm" helped him to win his first customers and he started to supply the canteen kitchens in the "Stahlhelm"’s Reich Labour Service camps.