Austrian historian Hans Safrian, in his book Eichmann's Men, is highly suspicious of the subject of this chapter. According to Safrian, the Vienna-based Gildemeester Organisation for Assistance to Emigrants (Auswanderungshilfsaktion Gildemeester or Gildemeesteraktion) ‘allegedly’ assisted impoverished Jews in their efforts to leave German-occupied Austria. It is quite obvious that Safrian shares a feeling of distrust, widespread amongst commentators after 1945, towards philanthropic associations operating on behalf of the Jews on German soil before and during the Holocaust. In our case, scepticism seems the more warranted as Francis (Frank) van Gheel Gildemeester, founder of the agency which afterwards bore his name, initially negotiated deals between rich Jewish families and the German authorities in Austria. These deals, enabling the Jews to leave the territory of the Reich, required them to donate a share of their wealth to a ‘Gildemeester fund’, promoting emigration from Austria of poor ‘non-Aryans’. This clearly smacked of profitable business exploiting the plight of refugees, but under the cloak of charity.

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss in some detail the motives, achievements and shortcomings of the Gildemeesteraktion. To this end I have utilised material from archives in Israel, the United States, Austria and the Netherlands. While this chapter was being prepared, the government of Austria initiated a historical research project to inquire into the ‘precise amount and structure of Jewish fortunes handled under the auspices of Gildemeester's organisation, between spring 1938 and the beginning of 1941’.