Elsa Binder was near the end of her teen years when war disrupted her life. First, the military forces of the Soviet Union occupied her hometown of Stanisławów. Germany and the USSR had signed a nonaggression pact, and in a secret part of the treaty, they agreed to divide Poland between themselves. In September 1939, Germany invaded Western Poland and Soviet troops entered from the east. Twenty-two months later, Germany attacked its former Soviet ally and occupied the remainder of Poland. 
