Blik family papers

Marie Blik (1910-1986, later Marie Boutelje) was born Marie Samson on September 19, 1910 in London to Amelia Samson (née Polak, 1875-1945) and Mozes Samson. She had one sister, Esther Samson (later Esther Fluck). Marie was married to Barend Blik (1905-1943, nicknamed Ben), and they lived in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They had two children, Clara Blik (b. 1937, later Clara McCarthy) and Maurice Blik (b. 1939).

Around April 1943 Amelia was arrested and deported to Westerbork. In August 1943 Barend was arrested and deported to Westerbork and then Auschwitz, where he was likely murdered. Marie and her children were also arrested and deported from their home to Westerbork by August 1943. While in Westerbork, Marie and Amelia were able to keep in touch with Marie’s sister Esther in Cheltenham, England via the Red Cross. In January 1944, Marie, her children, and her mother were all transferred to Bergen-Belsen. On April 9, 1944 she gave birth to her third child Milly Blik (1944-1945) in the camp. Marie’s mother Amelia died in March 1945. In early April 1945 Marie, Clara, and Maurice were among the other remaining prisoners evacuated from Bergen-Belsen on three trains shortly before it was liberated. They were on what was later referred to as the “Lost Train” or “Last Transport” that was liberated by a Cossack division of the Soviet Red Army near Tröbitz, Germany on April 23, 1945.

Marie and her children moved to England after the war. She married Abraham Boutelje in 1947, and immigrated with her children to the United States in 1956. Her son Maurice went on to become a sculptor whose work has been exhibited internationally.