The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945

KWG Dünaburg (map 9b) in Dünaburg (today Daugavpils, Latvia) was, along with Dubno and Borissow (Borisov/Barysaŭ), one of the three KWGs that the Germans [End Page 643] established in the occupied Soviet territories shortly after the invasion of the Soviet Union. The KWGs were located in the northern, central, and southern rear areas of the eastern front, in preexisting prison buildings that were close to “well-located transportation hubs.”¹ Under the enforcement plan of November 17, 1941, KWG Dünaburg was intended to hold Wehrmacht soldiers from Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord), its rear areas, and the Armed Forces Commander (Wehrmachtbefehlshaber) Ostland who were convicted under military law and sentenced to terms of three months or less. Soldiers sentenced to longer prison terms were to be held there and sent “in regular transports” to the Armed Forces Prison (Wehrmachtgefängnis) in Graudenz (today Grudziądz, Poland).²

At the end of 1941, the prison was moved from Dünaburg to Wilna (today Vilnius, Lithuania), where it retained the same responsibilities. A Reception Center (Auffangsstelle) for prisoners sent to KWG Wilna (Vilnius) remained at Dünaburg. It is unknown whether the reception area in Dünaburg, which was open until at least 1943, and probably until 1944, also took in prisoners from nearby areas who had been sentenced to death, as was likely the case at the reception area in Smolensk of KWG Borissow.³