27:
157:. However, a sergeant named Erwin Metz was ultimately responsible for the work details and many of the inhumane conditions. He gave the order to take the prisoners on the death march. When the Allied forces closed in on the retreating Germans, Metz deserted his post and attempted to escape by bicycle. He was captured days after the prisoners were liberated by American forces, and sentenced to death for killing a US POW, Pvt Morton Goldstein (Battery C/590th Field Artillery/
96:"), and prisoners were intentionally worked to death under inhumane working and living conditions, suffering 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 an attempt to keep them ahead of the advancing
231:
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" or "sounding like Jews," or dubbed as undesirables, according to survivors. More than 100 soldiers
130:
On
February 8, the group was taken by train to Berga. The men were put to work, together with the concentration camp inmates, digging 17 tunnels for an underground ammunition factory, some of them 150 feet below ground. As a result of the appalling conditions, malnutrition and cold, as well as
123:, the first American soldier to be so honoured. After being kept standing for several hours, 130 men came forward. However, the commandant had been requested to provide 350 men for the transport. Thus, known "troublemakers" among the prisoners, including
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On 4 April, the 300 surviving
American prisoners were marched out of the camp ahead of approaching U.S. troops. After a 2½-week forced march, they were finally liberated. During this march, another 36 Americans died.
112:, Germany. On 27 January 1945, the camp commandant ordered all Jewish prisoners to step forward out of the daily line-up. The senior noncommissioned officer at the camp,
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161:) on March 14, 1945. His sentence was commuted to 20 years' imprisonment but he only served nine years before being released. Hack was arrested in the
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During an air raid, while the camp lights were extinguished, Hans Kasten, Joe Littel and Ernst Sinner escaped. They were later arrested and taken to
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and the Berga camp, and sentenced to 8 years in prison. After a retrial, Hack's sentence was increased to death in 1951, and he was executed in
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in 1947. He was found guilty in 1948 of his complicity in atrocities leading to the deaths of hundreds of people at the
119:, ordered his men to disobey the order, and told the Germans: "We are all Jews here." For his actions, Edmonds was made
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into usable fuel for tanks, planes, and other military machinery. However, the camp's additional purpose was
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J.C.F. "Hans" Kasten, the elected camp leader, were then selected, including anyone who "looked Jewish."
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due to dust inhalation from tunnelling with explosives), and beatings, including 73 American POWs.
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An
American soldier questions a civilian from a nearby town in the Berga-Elster concentration camp.
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beatings, 47 prisoners died. The U.S. military authorities never acknowledged the incident.
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headquarters. After their identities as POWs were confirmed they were taken to the
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293:"'We are all Jews': World War II soldier honored for saving lives in POW camp"
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53:. Workers were supplied by Buchenwald concentration camp and from a
191:"After 63 years, vet learns of brother's death in Nazi slave camp"
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Forgotten
Victims: The Abandonment of Americans in Hitler's Camps
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The German prisoner of war camp Stalag IX-A was located near
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The labor camp formed part of
Germany's secret plan to use
363:"Personal Narrative: Johann Carl Friedrich Kasten IV"
216:"New photo: Nazis dig up mass grave of U.S. soldiers"
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and placed in detention cells. They were freed when
389:"Berga - Soldiers of Another War: Berga and Beyond"
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Library of
Congress : Veterans History Project
232:perished at the camp or on a forced death march.
61:; the latter contravened the provisions of the
49:was located on the outskirts of the village of
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420:"Berga am Elster: American POWs at Berga"
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16:Subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp
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69:. Many prisoners died as a result of
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104:American prisoners of war at Berga
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163:Soviet occupation zone of Germany
361:Kasten, J.C.F. "Hans" (2012).
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469:"Berga-Elster ("Schwalbe V")"
144:Buchenwald concentration camp
43:Buchenwald concentration camp
244:Reich, Walter (2005-05-01).
153:The commandant of Berga was
121:Righteous Among the Nations
94:extermination through labor
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277:(television documentary).
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275:Hitler's G.I. Death Camp
246:"Yanks in the Holocaust"
90:Vernichtung durch Arbeit
19:Not to be confused with
63:Third Geneva Convention
21:Berg concentration camp
499:Subcamps of Buchenwald
473:encyclopedia.ushmm.org
445:"Nazi Crimes on Trial"
424:Jewish Virtual Library
73:, sickness (including
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326:. Boulder, Colorado:
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55:prisoner-of-war camp
279:National Geographic
167:Mittelbau-Dora camp
125:Private First Class
35:Berga an der Elster
418:Bard, Mitchell G.
399:on 10 January 2012
387:Uhl, John (2012).
250:The New York Times
47:forced labour camp
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318:Bard, Mitchell G.
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45:. The Berga
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71:malnutrition
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59:Stalag IX-B
478:2023-08-25
454:2022-09-27
255:2010-04-26
226:2009-04-24
201:2008-11-20
177:References
155:Willy Hack
110:Ziegenhain
86:brown coal
173:in 1952.
51:Schlieben
493:Category
320:(1996).
65:and the
302:11 June
281:. 2012.
171:Dresden
140:Gestapo
41:of the
39:subcamp
403:20 May
372:20 May
343:20 May
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37:was a
431:2019
405:2012
374:2012
345:2012
332:ISBN
304:2018
393:PBS
297:CNN
220:CNN
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