Dachau was the concentration camp that was in operation the longest from March 1933 to April 1945 , nearly all twelve years of the Nazi regime . Dachau 's close proximity to Munich , where Hitler came to power and where the Nazi Party had its official headquarters , made Dachau a convenient location . From 1933 to 1938 , the prisoners were mainly German nationals detained for political reasons . After the '' Reichspogromnacht '' or '' Kristallnacht '' , 30,000 male Jewish citizens were deported to concentration camps . More than 10,000 of them were interned in Dachau alone . As the German military occupied other European states , citizens from across Europe were sent to concentration camps . Subsequently , the camp was used for prisoners of all sorts , from every nation occupied by the forces of the Third Reich
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Dachau concentration camp