Berga, Thuringia Explained

Type:	Stadtteil
Town:	Berga-Wünschendorf
Berga
Image Coa:	Wappen Berga-Elster.png
Coordinates:	50.75°N 22°W
State:	Thüringen
District:	Greiz
Elevation:	229
Area:	43.49
Postal Code:	07980
Area Code:	036623
Population:	3218
Stand:	2022-12-31
Website:	Stadt-Berga.de

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.^[1] 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

See main article: Berga concentration camp. During World War II, a slave labor camp called "Berga an der Elster"^[2] 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,^[3] including 73 American POWs.^{[4] [5]}

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)

Further reading

• Book: Flint Whitlock. Given Up For Dead - American GIs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga. Basic Books. March 2005. 0-8133-4288-0. registration.

External links

• Web site: About Berga. PBS.org.
• News: Acevedo: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence. CNN.com. 2008.

• Web site: City Website Berga/Elster. stadt-berga.de.
• Web site: District Greiz. landkreis-greiz.de. 2006-12-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20061214210619/http://www.landkreis-greiz.de/en/index.html. 2006-12-14. dead.
• Web site: Pictures: Survivor of Berga 1945. https://web.archive.org/web/20111003041030/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/explorer/hitler-death-camp-pictures/#/emaciated-soldier-treated_39274_600x450.jpg . dead . October 3, 2011 . National Geographic Channel.
• News: The Lost Soldiers of Stalag IX-B. New York Times Traces. 2010-08-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20110617113142/http://www.traces.org/Media/NYT_Stalag_IX-B.html. 2011-06-17. dead.
• News: 'You don't forget': Medic's Holocaust diary tells story of hell . CNN. October 28, 2010.

Notes and References

1. https://parldok.thueringer-landtag.de/ParlDok/dokument/95417/gesetz_und_verordnungsblatt_nr_15_2023.pdf Thüringer Gesetz zur freiwilligen Neugliederung kreisangehöriger Gemeinden im Jahr 2024
2. News: After 63 years, vet learns of brother's death in Nazi slave camp . 2008-11-20 . CNN . 2008-11-20.
3. News: New photo: Nazis dig up mass grave of U.S. soldiers . . 2009-04-24 . 2009-04-24 . Berga an der Elster was a slave labor camp where 350 U.S. soldiers were beaten, starved, and forced to work in tunnels for the German government. The soldiers were singled out for "looking like Jews", for "sounding like Jews", for having names that "sounded Jewish", or they were dubbed undesirables, according to survivors. More than 100 soldiers perished at the camp or on a forced death march..
4. News: Yanks in the Holocaust . The New York Times . Walter . Reich . 2005-05-01 . 2010-04-26.
5. Hitler's G.I. Death Camp. National Geographic. television documentary. 2012.