"One of Hitler's most secretive slave labor camps" (National Geographic)
1,800 European prisoners were held at Berga since 1944. The Battle of the Bulge was Hitler's attempt to gain control of the western front. 80,000 American soldiers were killed, injured or taken as prisoners. (National Geographic) These 350 American GI POW's were captured during the Battle of the Bulge American soldiers had letters stamped on their dog tags to tell which religion they were. This was done so that if they were killed in battle, they would receive the proper burials. C for Catholic H for Hebrew and P for Protestant. The group of 350 American men were selected from Stalag 9B POW camp. Then they were sent in trains to Berga. The men were being used as slave laborers to build an underground armament factory. Conditions at the Berga camp were reported as some of the worst conditions in any of Hitler's concentration camps. When the European prisoners saw the American soldiers arriving as prisoners they had lost all hope that they would ever be freed. "The American prisoners of war slept in uninsulated wooden barracks with bars on the windows, two to a bed in four-tiered, lice-infested bunks. Given no additional garments, the soldiers had only the clothes they were wearing at the time of their capture and the heat of a single stove to keep from freezing overnight. Their food consisted of ersatz tea (little more than hot brown water), turnip beet-top soup, bread made from sawdust, margarine, and an occasional piece of sausage-type meat" (Uhl)