Dr Efraim Zuroff, the Coordinator of Simon Wiesenthal Centre Nazi war crimes research worldwide, has said the Centre welcomes the decision of the Wollongong City Council to remove the name of Nazi collaborator Bronius Sredersas from a room in the Wollongong Art Gallery dedicated to him.
The room was named for Sredersas for his donation of significant Australian artworks to the museum
The Jerusalem-based Centre stated: “Given his lengthy service in the German SD (Security Service) in Lithuania, whose primary task was the brutal annihilation of practically the entire local Jewish community of over 200,000 men, women, and children, we commend the museum for taking appropriate action on this issue. Special thanks to former Wollongong councilor Michael Samaras, who was the first person who suspected that Sedersas might be concealing a Nazi past, and contacted our chief Nazi-hunter Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, an expert on the Shoah in Lithuania, who confirmed his suspicions, which prompted the steps taken by the museum with the NSW Board of Deputies and the Sydney Jewish Museum, all of whom share in the credit for this positive step.”