Bebra (German pronunciation: [ˈbeːbʁa] ⓘ) is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.

Bebra's 11 Stadtteile are, in alphabetical order, Asmushausen, Blankenheim, Braunhausen, Breitenbach, Gilfershausen, Iba, Imshausen, Lüdersdorf, Rautenhausen, Solz and Weiterode.

For the next several centuries the settlement was mainly a big farming village, even though important, heavily used roads already met at this spot quite early on.

Nevertheless, at that time the area was dominated by Rotenburg, lying 6 km (4 mi) away, which enjoyed status as a small residence town.

Town rights were granted Bebra on 20 September 1935 by the Chief President (Oberpräsident) of the Province of Hesse-Nassau, Philipp, Prince of Hesse.

As of the mid-1980s, Bebra was gradually losing importance as a railway junction, which led to a noticeable decline in goods traffic and thereby to fewer jobs at Deutsche Bahn.

(¹ after amalgamation of 11 outlying centres) The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results: The town executive (Magistrat) is made up of 8 councillors, with 5 seats allotted to the CDU and three to the SPD.

The crossed bendlets (thin diagonal bars, and more aptly described as such than as “a saltire voided”, given the way they are meant to be shown) are an heraldic way of representing a railway junction, which was the town's main function when the arms were conferred in 1930, and had been since the middle of the foregoing century.

Right next door is found a 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow-gauge railway that runs on some days from April to September.

In the late 1980s, Bebra was losing its importance as a railway junction as German reunification loomed and the town lost cross-border traffic.

From the turn of the millennium, local politicians and Members of the Bundestag from the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district strove to have Bebra's railway station expanded into a marshalling yard.