Anna Nessy Perlberg

Anna Nessy Perlberg was born in Prague in the late 1920s. She and her family escaped to New York just a few days after the Nazi invasion in 1939. From her early years of privilege in Prague, to the struggles of a young immigrant in New York City, from her years at Barnard and Columbia University to a career of service and a loving and story-filled marriage with her poet-husband Mark Perlberg, Anna lived by the humanitarian principles that were instilled in her by her parents.

Ms. Perlberg held a BA in History from Barnard, an MA in History from Columbia University, and an MSW from the University of Illinois. Anna felt a connection with today’s immigrant children and often spoke about her story to school groups. She and her poet husband, the late Mark Perlberg, settled in Chicago, where she lived until she passed away in 2017.