Elena Kagan was born to a Jewish family in the Belarusian town of Gomel. The family later moved to Moscow. At the time of the Nazi attack on Soviet Union, she studied philosophy at the Moscow State University. She wanted to join the battlefront, but she was sent to work in a munition factory and later studied to be a nurse. However, her knowledge of German led her to be transferred to a school for war interpreters. In February, 1942, she joined Lelyushenko's troops and in the following months, she moved together with the army throughout Belarus and Poland to the West.