When in New York, Schnee, in 1901 married Ada Adeline Woodhill (1873-1969), a New Zealand actress of English and Irish extraction.

From 1911 onwards he was Ministerial Director and head of the political and administrative division in the Imperial Colonial Office in Berlin.

[2] On 2 March 1919, Schnee and Lettow-Vorbeck led the returning fighters from East Africa through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

An active colonial policy outside Europe, as understood by Schnee, the reason for his continued involvement in politics, was not among the new rulers' interests.

Schnee was also internationally known as a leading representative of German colonial interests and was repeatedly invited to lectures in the United States and other European countries.

After the Second World War, the Allies considered Schnee incriminated because he had held a Nazi Party Reichstag seat, and he could not continue his work.