On September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. There were over 2,000,000 Jews living in Poland, and their fate was sealed the moment German troops crossed the border. As the Germans arrived in Polish towns and cities, the first action was to strike terror in the local Jewish community. Soon after, the decision was taken to centralize the Jews into cities, creating ghettos. The first to be forced out were the Jews of western Poland, which was to be annexed directly to Germany. Before long, however, the major ghettos were established in Warsaw, Cracow, Lodz and other cities.
