Born to a Jewish family in Poland, Aaron Lejzerowicz was endangered by the German invasions of Poland and the USSR. These maps offer a small glimpse of German military activity over the course of World War II—events which brought millions of Jews like Aaron within the Nazis’ reach.
![Europe 1933, Poland indicated [LCID: eur69470]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/cabf7dbc-7240-48a7-af17-f96d5995df42.gif "Europe 1933, Poland indicated [LCID: eur69470]")
![Poland, 1933 [LCID: pol19010]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/76d5ee55-e22a-47e6-b0a3-6a9addda8f24.gif "Poland, 1933 [LCID: pol19010]")
![German invasion of Poland, September 1939 [LCID: pol81270]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/6f64cd83-2013-4aa2-9574-2421cdbde257.gif "German invasion of Poland, September 1939 [LCID: pol81270]")
![German-Soviet partition 1939 [LCID: pol71020]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/92931890-2f63-4001-9690-c67d6b6df19f.gif "German-Soviet partition 1939 [LCID: pol71020]")
![Eastern Europe after the German-Soviet Pact, 1939-1940 [LCID: eeu71060]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f119ae16-48bf-4ec5-8c87-69644a277de5.gif "Eastern Europe after the German-Soviet Pact, 1939-1940 [LCID: eeu71060]")
![Soviet annexations in eastern Europe, 1939-1940 [LCID: eeu71020]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/be2f9699-bd22-47e0-8927-f7ae49ad41e0.gif "Soviet annexations in eastern Europe, 1939-1940 [LCID: eeu71020]")
![Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941-1942 [LCID: eeu86710]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/5ecf80f1-33b8-4168-a6b9-da7ca00745a5.gif "Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941-1942 [LCID: eeu86710]")
As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners suffering from starvation and disease. Only after the liberation of the Nazi camps was the full scope of their horrors exposed to the world.
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