[1] It is situated on the White Elster river, 14 km southeast of Gera.

Within the German Empire (1871–1918), Berga/Elster was part of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

During World War II, a slave labor camp called "Berga an der Elster"[2] 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,[3] including 73 American POWs.