Everyone has a past, and sometimes that past has a few skeletons in the closet. But not everyone has the wing of an art gallery named after them.
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Bob Sredersas is known as one of Wollongong's greats. A man who kept himself to himself but was passionate about art.
In gifting the city more than 100 notable paintings, ceramics and artefacts, he gifted the city Wollongong Art Gallery.
Sredersas' contribution was honoured in 2018 during the gallery's 40th-anniversary celebrations with an exhibition, which included a replica of his lounge room.
The exhibition was curated by Ann-Louise Rentell, who at the time noted that Sredersas' past was unclear before 1950. New research could explain why Sredersas didn't want people to know about his past.
The documents uncovered by former Wollongong councillor Michael Samaras tell a tale that you could imagine someone wanting to bury... if the dots have been correctly joined.
What is evidenced and verified is Sredersas was employed by the intelligence section of the Nazi SS during the 1940s. The SS was responsible for the murder of European Jews.
We don't know what Sredersas' role was, how long it lasted, and what happened afterwards.
Still, it is the responsibility of Wollongong City Council as custodians of Wollongong Art Gallery to commit to finding out more.
Wollongong Art Gallery is one of Australia's largest regional art museums and prides itself on introducing art and understanding to residents.
But its reputation and Wollongong's cultural identity hangs on what the council does next.
As the man who unearthed Sredersas' past, Michael Samaras said: "I was feeling really distressed and agitated and profoundly disappointed in Wollongong Council, as I thought this was an opportunity for them to demonstrate the best way to manage a cultural institution," he said.
"The Holocaust matters to all of us, not just to Lithuanians or Germans or Jews; it matters to everybody."
And Sredersas' past matters to us all in the Illawarra.
- Gayle Tomlinson
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