{{Infobox German place |type = Stadtteil |Town = Berga-Wünschendorf |name = Berga |image_photo = Berga an der Elster.jpg |image_coa = DEU Berga (Berga-Wünschendorf) COA.svg |coordinates = {{coord|50|45|N|12|10|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |state = Thüringen |district = Greiz |elevation = 229 |area = 43.52 |postal_code = 07980 |area_code = 036623 |population = 3218 |Stand = 2022-12-31 |website = [http://www.stadt-berga.de/ Stadt-Berga.de] }}

'''Berga/Elster''' ({{IPA|de|ˈbɛʁɡa}}) is a former town in the district of Greiz, in Thuringia, Germany. On 1 January 2024 it became part of the town Berga-Wünschendorf.<ref>[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], Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für den Freistaat Thüringen, 2023 Nr. 15, p. 349</ref> It is situated on the White Elster river, 14&nbsp;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 == {{main|Berga concentration camp}} During World War II, a slave labor camp called "Berga an der Elster"<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/20/worldwar.two.folo/index.html |title= After 63 years, vet learns of brother's death in Nazi slave camp |accessdate=2008-11-20 | work=CNN | date=2008-11-20}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{cite news |title=New photo: Nazis dig up mass grave of U.S. soldiers |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/22/berga.folo/index.html?iref=mpstoryview |publisher=CNN |date=2009-04-24 |accessdate=2009-04-24 |quote=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.}}</ref> including 73 American POWs.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7DB1731F932A35756C0A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 | work=The New York Times | title=Yanks in the Holocaust | first=Walter | last=Reich | date=2005-05-01 | accessdate=2010-04-26}}</ref><ref name="natgeo">{{cite video|title=Hitler's G.I. Death Camp|publisher=National Geographic|medium=television documentary|date=2012}}</ref>

== 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 == {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book|author=Flint Whitlock|title=Given Up For Dead - American GIs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga|publisher=Basic Books|date=March 2005|isbn=0-8133-4288-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/givenupfordeadam00whit}}

==External links== *{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/berga/about_description.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030622132903/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/berga/about_description.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 22, 2003 |title=About Berga|website=PBS.org}} *{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/11/acevedo.pow/index.html |title=Acevedo: WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence|work= CNN.com|date=2008}} <!-- *[http://edition.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/20/worldwar.two.folo/index.html ] dead link-->

*{{cite web|url=http://www.stadt-berga.de/ |website=stadt-berga.de|title=City Website Berga/Elster}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.landkreis-greiz.de/en/index.html|website=landkreis-greiz.de|title=District Greiz|access-date=2006-12-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214210619/http://www.landkreis-greiz.de/en/index.html|archive-date=2006-12-14|url-status=dead}} *{{cite web|url=http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/explorer/hitler-death-camp-pictures/#/emaciated-soldier-treated_39274_600x450.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003041030/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/explorer/hitler-death-camp-pictures/#/emaciated-soldier-treated_39274_600x450.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 3, 2011 |website=National Geographic Channel|title=Pictures: Survivor of Berga 1945}} *{{cite news|url=http://www.traces.org/Media/NYT_Stalag_IX-B.html|work=New York Times Traces|title=The Lost Soldiers of Stalag IX-B|access-date=2010-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617113142/http://www.traces.org/Media/NYT_Stalag_IX-B.html|archive-date=2011-06-17|url-status=dead}} *{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/28/acevedo.holocaust.soldier/?hpt=Sbin |title='You don't forget': Medic's Holocaust diary tells story of hell |work=CNN|date= October 28, 2010}}

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Category:Former municipalities in Thuringia Category:Greiz (district)