The first known documented mention of Artern was as  Aratora in the early 9th Century, in a register of estates at Hersfeld Abbey.
The water castle of Artern was built from the 10th Century.

Machinery, sugar and boots used to be manufactured in Artern.

Its brine springs, known as early as the 15th century, are still frequented.

In 1944 a subcamp, Rebstock neu, of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald was established in Artern.

During World War 2, 47 prisoners of war from Poland and France were used as forced labourers at the Weidlich Manor, on the Demesne, and on the river works.
Over 400 foreign forced labourers were working in the machine factory Kyffhäuserhütte in 1941.
At least another 1,124 forced labourers, predominantly from the Soviet Union, worked in the sugar factory, the brewery, the saline works, on the railways and on farms (also in the nearby village of Schönfeld) and in the outlying estate Kachstedt.

In the Artern subcamp (with cover name A-Dorf) of the concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora, hundreds of prisoners, also from other camps, had to assemble the electrics for V2 rockets.
In April 1945 hundreds of concentration camp prisoners were sent on various routes on death marches.
The numerous fatalities of the forced labour and the last deportations were buried in the Parkfriedhof cemetery, where a memorial stone was erected, which was removed in 1975.

On the 12th April 1945 Artern was occupied by the US Army, and in July of the same year by the Red Army.
With this it became part of the Soviet occupation zone and later East Germany.
The first known documented mention of Artern was as  Aratora in the early 9th Century, in a register of estates at Hersfeld Abbey. The water castle of Artern was built from the 10th Century.
Machinery, sugar and boots used to be manufactured in Artern.
Its brine springs, known as early as the 15th century, are still frequented.
In 1944 a subcamp, Rebstock neu, of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald was established in Artern.
During World War 2, 47 prisoners of war from Poland and France were used as forced labourers at the Weidlich Manor, on the Demesne, and on the river works. Over 400 foreign forced labourers were working in the machine factory Kyffhäuserhütte in 1941. At least another 1,124 forced labourers, predominantly from the Soviet Union, worked in the sugar factory, the brewery, the saline works, on the railways and on farms (also in the nearby village of Schönfeld) and in the outlying estate Kachstedt.
In the Artern subcamp (with cover name A-Dorf) of the concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora, hundreds of prisoners, also from other camps, had to assemble the electrics for V2 rockets. In April 1945 hundreds of concentration camp prisoners were sent on various routes on death marches. The numerous fatalities of the forced labour and the last deportations were buried in the Parkfriedhof cemetery, where a memorial stone was erected, which was removed in 1975.
On the 12th April 1945 Artern was occupied by the US Army, and in July of the same year by the Red Army. With this it became part of the Soviet occupation zone and later East Germany.
Artern