Frank Van Gildemeester, Netherland banker in whose Vienna emigration activities the hand of the Gestapo has been seen, has been ordered by the police to leave Italy by March 1, it was learned today.
Van Gildemeester is founder and director of the Gildemeester Auswanderungs Hilfsaktion in Vienna, which reportedly was concerned with emigration from Germany of “non-Aryans” not of the Jewish religion. Amsterdam and Washington advices, based on private reports from Vienna Jewish circles, have expressed the belief that Gildemeester was a tool of the Gestapo and had cooperated with it for some time.
Van Gildemeester has been in Rome for the past three months trying to sell a refugee colonization scheme for the Lake Tsana region in Ethiopia to the Italian Government. Despite an early statement by Van Gildemeester that his project had the support of the Italian Government, it now develops that the plan has met the vigorous disapproval of the authorities, who have already expelled his secretary, Herman Furnberg.
To add to the mystery, it is reported that Van Gildemeester has been attempting for the past six weeks to return to his headquarters in Vienna but has been refused a re-entry permit by the Berlin authorities.
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