Tunnels at Berga
Exterior view of the 17 tunnels where the POWs from Berga worked. Prisoners worked six to twelve hours, seven days a week in freezing temperatures for nearly two months in the damp, dusty shafts. The Germans would blast the slate loose with dynamite, and the Americans would break up the rock so it could be shoveled into mining cars. Civilian overseers beat prisoners who worked too slowly (NARA Photo).
Source: © Mitchell G. Bard. Forgotten Victims: The Abandonment of Americans in Hitler's Camps.. CO: Westview Press, 1994.
Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library
