Berga (Elster)
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 Berga
Location of Berga within Greiz district
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| Coordinates: 50°45′N 12°10′E / 50.750°N 12.167°ECoordinates: 50°45′N 12°10′E / 50.750°N 12.167°E | ||
| Country | Germany | |
| State | Thuringia | |
| District | Greiz | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Steffen Ramsauer | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 43.49 km2 (16.79 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 229 m (751 ft) | |
| Population (2016-12-31) | ||
| • Total | 3,359 | |
| • Density | 77/km2 (200/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | |
| Postal codes | 07980 | |
| Dialling codes | 036623 | |
| Vehicle registration | GRZ | |
| Website | Stadt-Berga.de | |
Berga/Elster is a town in the district of Greiz, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the White Elster river, 14 km southeast of Gera.
Within the German Empire (1871-1918), Berga/Elster was part of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
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. The labor camp formed part of Germany's secret plan to transform, via hydrogenation, brown coal into usable fuel for tanks, planes, and other military machinery. However, the camp's additional purpose was Vernichtung durch Arbeit ("annihilation through labor"), and prisoners were intentionally worked to death under inhumane working and living conditions, and they suffered from starvation as a result. This secondary purpose of extermination was carried out until the war's end, when the prisoners were subjected to a forced death march in order to keep ahead of the advancing allied forces.
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