Anna Galstuck

Anna Galstuck was born at the turn of the 20th century in Kamenets-Podolski, a small city in the Jewish Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire. Her early childhood was marked by poverty and traditional female roles of the Jewish community at that time and place. Always a curious child, she insisted that her father include her in the reading lessons that her brothers enjoyed.

Upon arriving in the United States at the age of ten Anna attended public schools on the lower east side through the eighth grade.

Coming of age during the struggle for women’s suffrage and the birth of the Russian Revolution, the young Anna, whose mother had been active in union organizing, became politically active.

Well-read and literate in three languages, Anna wrote her memoir in her later years, recounting her family’s struggles for a better life, both in Kamenets-Podolski, and in New York City.