Anna Schnitzer Mann

Anna Schnitzer was born February 22, 1898 in Treyonifka, Poland, the oldest child of Brindel (Rebecca) and Yale-Hersh (Harry) Schnitzer.

Anna wrote of her early years in Poland: “I lived until about six years old in a cottage in a square across from where Great Grandfather, Grandfather, and the oldest son with his family all lived in a large house.”

In the early 1900s, the Schnitzer family and many of their relatives made their way to America. Anna’s memoir includes this account of the momentous immigration:

First the men went and when they saved enough money they sent for the families. Yale-Hersh sent for us around 1905—he sent the money to London to some landsleit who had gone there from Treyonifka. Because my father did not serve in the czar’s army we all had to steal the border. In those days there were men who arranged to take people, for a price, during the night across to the German border, far enough away from where the guards were stationed. I have a vivid picture in my mind of the men pointing out in the distance where there was a bonfire burning. All of my mother’s possessions were tied up in the goose featherbeds carried by the men. We walked all night and arrived at the German border at dawn.

There was a wagon waiting for us and we all got in and after riding up and down some hills the wagon turned over and we fell out but the down featherbeds helped so that there were only bruises.

From there the family crossed the channel to London, were met by relatives and after other difficulties (including the theft of the money sent to London to pay for their boat fare), crossed the Atlantic to Portland, Maine. They traveled by train to Portland, Oregon in 1906.

The family settled in old South Portland and were members of Shaarie Torah. In 1919 Anna married Charles E. Mann who had immigrated from England. Their children are Robert, Alfred,and Rosalind. Her daughter Rosalind Mann Koff writes of her mother:

​My parents Charles and Anna Mann loved classical music and Anna sang in a chorus wherever she lived. She listened to the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and attended the Portland Symphony concerts. Two of her three children are musicians. Robert Mann is a founding member of the Julliard String Quartet.

As a young man in Portland, he was concertmaster of the Portland Junior Symphony and I am artist in residence assisting my husband at Brandeis University. 

Anna loved to make jewelry from beads, stones, and sea shells. We loved going to Seaside Beach in summer and walking on the beach collecting seashells. I have some of her beautiful collections.

As a secretary working for Harold Gilbert who owned a piano store, she was able to acquire our first piano. Alfred wrote a poem when he was in high school and she helped him find the words and encouraged him with his homework.

Our family history is an amazing American story. I am lucky that my grandparents immigrated to Portland, Oregon in 1906 from Poland. God bless America.

When Anna’s youngest child, Rosalind entered the Julliard School of Music in New York City at age eighteen, her parents thought her too young to be in that city alone and Anna moved to New York with her. There she enjoyed a full and rewarding life of work, travel, cultural events, and family.

Late in life Anna returned to Portland where she died July 30, 1992 at age 94. 

Anna Mann is a heroine in the quiet way many American women are. She worked diligently to nurture her children and provide them with the foundation on which to build their own success.She did this while serving as an inspiring role model by her own life being well lived. 

Written by Naomi Schnitzer