President’ s Message
MVHA Presidents
The Responsibility of History
News & Notes
President’ s Message
By Pamela Baird
MVHA Presidents
The Responsibility of History
This newsletter is published four times a year by the MOUNTAIN VIEW HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION P. O. Box 252, Mountain View, CA 94042 www. mountainviewhistorical. org
MVHA Board of Directors President: Pamela Baird Vice-President: Robert Cox Secretary: Jamil Shaikh Treasurer: Vacant Past President: Nicholas Perry Historical Data: David Salinero Membership: Lisa Garcia Newsletter: Nick Perry & Melanie Kaye Director-at-Large: Carol Donahue Director-at-Large: IdaRose Sylvester Member-at-Large: Melanie Kaye
Newsletter Design & Layout by Nicholas Perry and Melanie Kaye
MVHA Board of Directors Email: info @ mountainviewhistorical. org
Financial Report
As of June 30, 2025: $ 15,686.82 Checking Account Balance Certificates of Deposit: $ 64,224.77
Membership News
The MVHA welcomes three new members Anthea Chung, Kathleen Jordan and Michael Klein.
You can renew or become a member by returning the form( see page 9) with a check or using the website: https:// www. mountainviewhistorical. org / memberships /. Your dues help support our organization to pay for the ongoing expenses of the newsletter production, mailing costs, insurance and meeting costs.
In May, my husband, his adult children and I traveled to the northern German town
Pamela Baird of Barth to attend a special commemoration.
It was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of two camps run by the Nazi government— one for Prisoners of War and the other a concentration work camp. My father-in-law was a POW in Stalag Luft 1 for about eighteen months before the regime fell and the camp was abandoned by German soldiers fleeing the advancing Russian army.
Over 150 descendants of the people held in the camps participated in the informative and sometimes emotional two-day event. The first afternoon the participants visited the memorial for the concentration work camp, where a wreath was laid beneath a panel depicting prisoners.
Then the group visited the memorial at the location of the POW camp. A wreath was also laid. The mayor of the town of about 9,000 inhabitants, Friedrich-Carl Hellwig, spoke at each location. Both speeches carried powerful messages. At the work camp he stated“ What happened here was no secret. The camp was not hidden. It stood in plain sight... There is guilt here too. In this place... We inherit this legacy. It is heavy— and it remains. But we do not bear it because we are guilty of the past. We bear it because we are responsible for the present— and for the future. Responsible for remembrance. For truth. And for vigilance.”
He continued“ Humanity begins in the smallest of acts: The town of Barth, Germany, where a wreath was placed in the choice to speak out, to stand firm, below a plaque to commorate to care. Together with you, I wish to honor a WWII POW camp. the memory, to carry its weight, and to draw from it the strength to protect what is humane, now and in the time to come. Let us remain vigilant. Let us remain humane.”
I returned with a renewed appreciation of the German people for their commitment to remembering the past and the responsibility of history.
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