Berga concentration camp

Berga an der Elster was a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. The Berga forced labour camp was located on the outskirts of the village of Schliben. 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, and beatings, including 73 American POWs.The labor camp formed part of Germany's secret plan to use hydrogenation to transform brown coal into usable fuel for tanks, planes, and other military machinery.