A Lithuanian-born art collector who was honoured for donating paintings to a NSW art gallery is now suspected to have been directly involved in the execution of an escaped Jew in 1943.
Holocaust historian Konrad Kwiet uncovered details of the incident while investigating the wartime activities of Wollongong art benefactor Bronius “Bob” Sredersas, and believes his suspected actions would justify a charge of accessory to murder if he were alive today.
Sredersas migrated to Australia in 1950 and worked at the BHP steelworks in Wollongong while amassing a private art collection that included works by of some of Australia’s most well-known artists. He bequeathed the paintings before his death in 1982 to Wollongong Art Gallery, leading to a room being named in his honour.
But three decades after his death, suspicions about his police career in Lithuania prompted Wollongong City Council and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies to engage the Sydney Jewish Museum to investigate his wartime activities. The investigation revealed by The Australian found that he served as an intelligence officer in the Nazi security service and applied to join the military branch of the SS.
Since the report was released the gallery has removed the paintings and the plaque commemorating Sredersas. It is unclear when they will be returned, though Wollongong Mayor Gordon Bradbery hinted at a public lecture on the topic on Thursday that they would be one day, but in the “right way”.
Read the article by Rhiannon Down in The Australian.