Amelia Polack was born in 1875 in London a daughter of Bernhard Polack (also known as Barend, Barnett or Barnard), born in 1841 in Den Haag, a bootmaker by trade and Esther van Klaveren who was born in 1845 in Schoonhoven. In 1871 Amelia’s eldest brother Philip was born in Holland . However as the birth of her sister Catharine (Kitty) in 1873 was registered in London Middlesex, this implies Amelia’s parents had presumably immigrated into the UK between 1871 and 1873. In the 1881 census the family were residing at 22 Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel, London.
Amelia was born into a family of nine persons: father, mother and seven children. She was admitted on 11 November 1880 into the Jewish Free School in London, age 6 years. She left the school in February 1887.
Amelia Polack was married twice; her first marriage was to Solomon Reina, a printer and compositor. The marriage was registered in the 1st quarter of 1899 at Mile End Old Town, London and ended by the passing of Solomon Reina in 1903. From this marriage a daughter Esther Reina was born, but nothing further is known about her other than she is listed as a step-daughter of Moses Samson in the 1911 census
The widowed Amelia Reina-Polack married again in London on 24 November 1907 to Moses Samson, who was born in 1883 in Amsterdam, a son of the diamond polisher Abraham Samson. (name of the mother was not mentioned). In 1907 he was a master butcher by profession. In the UK Census of 1911, the family were residing at 42 Gothic Road, Twickenham, London and Moses was then working as a tramway conductor for the “London United Electric" company.
Amelia and Moses had three children together: Abraham in 1908, Marie in 1910 and Bernard in 1915. Abraham survived the war and about Bernard nothing further is known. Marie Samson, who was married to Barend Blik from Amsterdam, survived Bergen Belsen and passed away early 1986 in Florida (USA).
Probably in the 2nd half of the 1920-ies, Amelia and Moses came to Amsterdam where they resided at Pretoriusstraat 84 I. Amelia’s husband Mozes Samson passed away before the war in Amsterdam and is interred in the Jewish Cemetery in Diemen.
Amelia Samson-Polack was registered in Camp Westerbork on 30 March 1943 and stayed in barrack 89 until she was deported to Bergen Belsen on 11 January 1944 where she lost her life on 7 March 1945.
UK Census of 3 Arpril 1881 and of 5 April 1891 Mile End Old Town with registration of the family of Barnard Polack; records of the Jewish Free School in Londen for Amelia Polack; Sandys Row Synagogue register of marriages, wedding Amelia Reina tot Moses Samson; Cityh Archive of Amsterdam, archive card of Amelia Polack and family registration card of Mozes Samson; file cabinet of the Jewish Council, registration cards of Amelia Samson-Polack, Marie Blik-Samson, Barend Blik; Certificate of death nr. 565 for Amelia Polack, made out in Amsterdam on 19 October 1948.