Berga/Elster is a former town in the district of Greiz, in Thuringia, Germany. On 1 January 2024 it became part of the town Berga-Wünschendorf. It is situated on the White Elster river, 14 km southeast of Gera.
History
Within the German Empire (1871–1918), Berga/Elster was part of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
Berga concentration camp
During World War II, a slave labor camp called "Berga an der Elster" was operated here to dig 17 tunnels for an underground ammunition factory. Workers were supplied by Buchenwald concentration camp and from a POW camp, Stalag IX-B; the latter contravened the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention and the Hague Treaties. Many prisoners died as a result of malnutrition, sickness (including pulmonary disease due to dust inhalation from tunnelling with explosives), and beatings, including 73 American POWs.
Personalities
- Hans Bastian I. von Zehmen (1598–1638), Saxon colonel of the Leibregiment, commander of Magdeburg
- Gerhard Schot (1866–1961), geographer and oceanographer, born in the district of Tschirma
See also
- List of subcamps of Buchenwald
- Project Riese
- Soldiers and Slaves (2005)
References
Further reading
- Flint Whitlock (March 2005). Given Up For Dead - American GIs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga. Basic Books. ISBN 0-8133-4288-0.
External links
- "About Berga". PBS.org.
- "Acevedo: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence". CNN.com. 2008.
- "City Website Berga/Elster". stadt-berga.de.
- "District Greiz". landkreis-greiz.de. Archived from the original on 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2006-12-14.
- "Pictures: Survivor of Berga 1945". National Geographic Channel. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011.
- "The Lost Soldiers of Stalag IX-B". New York Times Traces. Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
- "'You don't forget': Medic's Holocaust diary tells story of hell". CNN. October 28, 2010.
