As German military forces conquered most of Europe, Nazi racial policies targeted Jewish communities. Eventually, the Nazis began to annihilate European Jewry. 

In September 1939, Germany invaded and occupied the western and central sections of Poland. Over 2 million Jews came under German control. Many Jews fled to Soviet, Lithuanian, and Latvian territories; those who remained were targeted by Nazi terror. In 1940, Germany invaded northern and western Europe, where Nazis or collaborationists instituted anti-Jewish legislation. In 1941, Germany invaded Greece and Yugoslavia. The systematic murder of people with disabilities also extended into occupied Poland.