This concentration camp was opened in 1933, just a few months after Hitler came to power as Chancellor in Germany. At first, it was housed with political dissidents, such as communists, leftists and others. In 1938 after the "night of broken glass" pogram, Jews were interned in Dachau. Just before the camp was liberated, there were 137 VIP prisoners at Dachau, including the former Chancellor of Austria, Kurt von Schuschnigg, and the former Jewish premier of France, Leon Blum. They were evacuated from the camp shortly before soldiers of the American Seventh Army arrived to liberate the camp on April 29, 1945.