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.Thüringer Gesetz zur freiwilligen Neugliederung kreisangehöriger Gemeinden im Jahr 2024, Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für den Freistaat Thüringen, 2023 Nr. 15, p. 349 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)
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