Horrors of Dulag-131: How Fascists Brutally Tortured Jews and Prisoners of War

On June 28, 1941, Nazi-Fascist invaders entered Bobruisk. Immediately, they began establishing concentration camps within the city, the largest and first of which was Dulag-131, situated on the grounds of the Bobruisk Fortress.

In early July 1941, approximately 6,700 prisoners of war were held there, but by the end of August, that number had soared to 18,000.

Anastasia Khmeleva, Junior Researcher at the Bobruisk Local History Museum, shares:

"On the night of November 6 to 7, 1941, the Germans decided to 'celebrate' the anniversary of the October Revolution. That night, they set fire to the barracks (which today are located within the fortress, where Dulag-131 was situated). As prisoners began fleeing the flames—jumping from windows—shooting commenced, specifically with explosive bullets. Survivors, wounded yet alive, succumbed later to their injuries from those shrapnel wounds."

According to German command reports, approximately 1,700 people were killed in a single night. Underground sources indicate that around 4,000 prisoners perished, while the local population believed the death toll could have reached as high as 18,000.

"The Red Army fought defensive battles across Belarus from June 22, 1941, through the end of that summer. Most of Belarus—its western borders, including Minsk—was captured within the early days of the Great Patriotic War. After occupying Belarus, the Nazis began establishing ghettos for Jewish residents," explains Natalia Yatskevich, Head of the Department at the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War.

The fascists harbored a deadly obsession linked to Bobruisk. Before the war, the city was home to 84,000 residents, of whom 26,000 were Jewish. They became the first victims of the occupation. The Bobruisk ghetto became a bloody chapter in the city's history on the Berezina River.

Once the Germans occupied the city, they swiftly established the ghetto in the private sector, specifically around the "Krasny Pishchevik" factory. Exact details about the ghetto’s territory are difficult to ascertain, but it is known that the area was enclosed with barbed wire—an enclosed, segregated zone. All Jewish residents were forced into this area under horrific conditions, which, to put it mildly, were appalling.

The Germans had a single plan: to annihilate the ghetto completely. Mass executions became, regrettably, routine. Witnesses recount how, during the march to their deaths, women tried to push children out of the deadly column, and Belarusians attempted to hide them.

Two sites of mass executions are well documented: villages of Kamenka in the Bobruisk District and Yeloviki. Today, the territory of Yeloviki hosts manufacturing buildings of a tire plant. During construction and excavation work, workers often unearthed human remains. At the memorial complex in Kamenka, two cenotaphs contain what appear to be charred stones behind glass; in reality, these are human remains deliberately preserved to remind us of the Nazi atrocities.

Kamenka village is just 12 km off Bobruisk—a distance that, during the Great Patriotic War, became the final journey for thousands of Bobruisk residents. On the night of November 6–7, 1941, over 10,000 prisoners from the Bobruisk ghetto were executed near this village.

From the ghetto, men, women, the elderly, and children were transported to the village. Beforehand, 500 prisoners from a camp located within the Bobruisk Fortress were forced to dig two 10-meter trenches, which were then used as mass graves for both Jews and prisoners of war.

According to Natalia Yatskevich, virtually every settlement during the Nazi occupation saw the creation of ghettos. Some Jews were exterminated immediately, while others were exploited as forced labor—an urgent necessity for the Wehrmacht, which faced a growing shortage of manpower early in the war.

"The front was advancing rapidly eastward, and the occupation authorities needed to establish infrastructure for governance and exploitation. The local population was compelled to work for the German military," she notes.

Bobruisk was under the command of the Army Rear Group, housing the 9th Army Group, Einsatzgruppen, SS, and SD units responsible for mass killings and village burnings—including the destruction of Borki in September 1942. Local punitive squads from Bobruisk also participated.

One of the largest punitive operations resulted in the execution and burning of over 2,000 civilians in a single day. The city also hosted a major transit camp, where inmates faced lethal conditions—hunger, cold, disease, and extermination actions. People were transported there via open platforms; few survived the journey, and the dead were discarded into trenches and buried.

Anastasia Khmeleva recounts:

"There are memories from underground fighter and Hero of the USSR Viktor Liventsev. The resistance members had to establish contact with partisans, and to do so, they entered the area. This all happened in late summer or early autumn of 1941. They heard barking dogs and realized a column of prisoners was being led through. They hid and witnessed the prisoners being taken into the woods, followed by the sound of machine-gun fire. It is clear that this entire column was executed. Unfortunately, such cases were not isolated."

In January 1942, at the Wannsee Conference, the final solution to the Jewish question was decided—namely, the systematic extermination of Jews as a people. Around 80 ghettos across western Belarus were liquidated in 1942, including 153 in Brest and Grodno regions, with populations ranging from 50 to 10,000. By the end of 1943, nearly all of Belarus's ghettos had been destroyed. The most notorious of these was the Minsk ghetto, one of Europe's largest, where approximately 100,000 victims perished.

In Bobruisk, there is a unique memorial complex—the "Alley of the Righteous of the Nations." This monument commemorates individuals who, risking their lives, saved Jews during the Holocaust. It stands as a powerful symbol of gratitude, respect, humanity, and courage. The site serves as a poignant reminder of the tragic pages of history, inspiring compassion and mutual aid.

The alley was established in Bobruisk in the late 20th century, with memorial plaques bearing the names of those honored as Righteous Among the Nations. These names testify to remarkable bravery and resilience. Informational panels at the site detail the heroic deeds of each rescuer.

*"The heroism of Soviet citizens who, at great personal risk, saved their Jewish neighbors—whose lives the Nazis sought to destroy—is profound. These individuals took strangers into their homes, shielding them from death, enduring terrible days until the Nazi threat was gone. In the Bobruisk district alone, 17 individuals were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. Across Belarus, approximately 960 have received this honor, though the true number is likely at least three times higher,"* says Rabbi Shaul Hababo of Bobruisk.

During the occupation, roughly 40,000 civilians and over 40,000 prisoners of war were murdered in Bobruisk. Victims endured torture, shootings, burnings, and many were enslaved. By June 29, 1944, at 10:00 AM, the city was liberated by the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front. Several units distinguished themselves during the Bobruisk Offensive, earning the honorary title "Bobruisk" for their bravery, and three soldiers were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for their valor in liberating the city.

The Nazi occupation of Bobruisk lasted exactly three years—an era marked by unimaginable suffering, mass executions, and heroic underground resistance. Yet, even during the darkest hours, the people’s faith in victory remained unshaken.