2-611-826 - Keystone Archives/Heritage Images

American soldiers examine a gas chamber, Dachau concentration camp, Bavaria, Germany, c1945. Constructed in 1933, originally primarily to house political prisoners, Dachau was the first concentration camp to be built by the Nazis. Between its opening and the end of the Second World War, prisoners from various countries invaded and occupied by the Nazis were imprisoned there, together with German nationals, Jews, members of the Christian clergy and ordinary criminals. In all over 30,000 people died at Dachau. The US Army liberated the camp at the end of April 1945, finding its barracks crowded with some 32,000 prisoners, many starving, crammed 1600 a time into buildings designed to house 250.