Samson was raised by Jewish parents in Tarnopol. His father died when Samson was 13, and Samson went to work to help support his mother and four brothers and sisters. In October 1918 Samson married Kaethe Ert, and the couple moved to Hanover, Germany, where Samson worked as a traveling salesman. Their son Herbert was born in 1920.

1933-39: In 1938 Kaethe and I got our son an exit visa on America's Polish quota (since we were Polish citizens). Later that year, the Gestapo came to our door with deportation papers. We were among 1,000 Jews from Hanover sent "home" to Poland. We went by train until just before the Polish border. Then, while the women stayed on the train, the men were ordered to continue on foot. The Nazis beat us men and literally shoved us into Poland.