Bergen (town, Lower Saxony, Germany)

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Bergen, town (1994 pop. 13,200), Lower Saxony, N Germany, 13 mi (21 km) NW of Celle. Building materials are manufactured. A North Atlantic Treaty Organization base is outside the town; a group of Neolithic dolmens is within the base. Nearby is the former site of Bergen-Belsen. Originally a prisoner-of-war camp, it was converted to a concentration camp in 1942. Some 100,000 camp inmates, among them Anne Frank and Josef Čapek, died of disease, starvation, and other causes. A museum and memorial are there.

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