Michael Samaras says Wollongong needs to rethink connection to Bob Sredersas

Former Wollongong councillor Michael Samaras revealed the dark past of the man known as Mr Bob who donated his collection of Australian art to the city which became the founding collection of the Wollongong Art Gallery.

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Mr Samaras's own research found Mr Sredersas was a member of the SD, the Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsfuhrers - SS, (which translates as the Security Service of the Reichsfuhrer SS). This arm of the Nazi security services was deeply involved in the Holocaust and the transportation of Jews to concentration camps, including Jewish Lithuanians, from where Mr Sredersas lived and worked.

The Nuremburg trials found members of the SD were war criminals.

Mr Samaras's findings, which were the result of four years of independent research, were later confirmed in a report from the Sydney Jewish Museum, delivered to Wollongong City Council in June.

Following the findings, which were initially brushed off by Wollongong Council, the naming plaque acknowledging Mr Sredersas's donation was removed from the art gallery and the Gallery's website was updated with new information about Mr Sredersas's past.

Mr Samaras said these steps are just the beginning of the reckoning the city must go through with elements of its past.

"We need a new story about Bob and our art gallery," he said. "The old story is no good, because we know it's not true. But we still need a story, a new story, that explains it all properly."

Mr Samaras's investigations began after an exhibition titled 'The Gift' at Wollongong Art Gallery, which explored how the collection donated by Mr Sredersas came to be. The exhibition included details about Mr Sredersas's life in Lithuania, before he came to Australia, but Mr Samaras noted one period in particular was absent.

This led him to investigate the quiet man from Cringila's past, including sending documents to Holocaust researchers at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem. While the results of the findings upended a man who was celebrated by Wollongong's artistic community and shocked the city, Mr Samaras said this kind of research could only come about well after Mr Sredersas's death in 1982.

"The 1970s were a different time, all the records I got out of Lithuania in the 1970s would have been in the custody of the KGB, behind the Iron Curtain," he said. "And there was no internet. Trying to do this sort of research must have been impossible."

On Wednesday, Mr Samaras received an award from the NSW Jewish board of Deputies and the Sydney Jewish Museum for his work and the findings he uncovered. Mr Samaras said the honour was very generous and meant a lot to him.

NSW Board of Deputies CEO Darren Bark said Mr Samaras is an unsung hero and a "true mensch".

"Michael spent nearly four years investigating Bob Sredersas' story, because he suspected something wasn't right," Mr Bark said. "Instead of being a bystander, he decided to take action. The Wollongong and broader NSW community now have the answers they deserve about Sredersas' Nazi past.

"The NSW Jewish community is incredibly grateful for Michael's resolve and determination, which has resulted in further opportunities to educate the community about the horrors of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime."

With further collaboration ongoing between Wollongong Art Gallery and the Sydney Jewish Museum, Mr Samaras said it was important to not resile from difficult parts of the city's history.

"The truth is, victims of the Holocaust came to Australia, and so did perpetrators. We have to talk about how that could happen."

For Mr Samaras, there is more history to uncover and he has continued to explore the connection between Wollongong and the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, where Mr Sredersas worked for the SD.

"I can stand out the front of his house in Cringila, I'd like to stand out of the front of his house or office in Kaunas."

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