Subject	Australia–Emigration and immigration—History
	Europe–Emigration and immigration
	World War, 1939-1945–Refugees
	World War, 1939-1945–Sources
	War stories
	Jews, Austrian
	German language–Writing
	Birth certificates
	Correspondence
Category	3. World War I
	4. World War II
	5. Cold War (including Decolonisation)
Creator	Selby, Kurt
Current Holder	National Library of Australia
Period Of Reference	1926/2003
Series Number	MS 10463
Item Number	7865754
Access Rights	Request at location
Rights	Copyright Undetermined. Copying of rights holder’s copyright material is permitted for research purposes. Available for research. Not for loan.
Country Of Origin	Austria
	Australia
Place	Melbourne
Language	German
	English
Description From Source	0.30 m (2 boxes) MS 10463 comprises approximately 90 letters sent to Kurt Selby (Silbiger), who left Austria and settled in Melbourne in 1939. The letters were written by fellow Jewish Austrians seeking his assistance to escape Austria following German occupation. Translations of some of the letters by student volunteers at the University of Melbourne are also included, along with Silbiger family birth certificates, transit passes, job references and unused forms and a CD containing scans of the entire collection of letters. Included in the collection are also two bound Honours thesis from Monash University that discuss the collection of letters – ‘Communication By Letter: Preliminary Observations of Emigrant Correspondence 1938-1939’ by Caroline Grainger and ‘Analysis of a series of letters written by Austrian Jewish refugees attempting to escape Vienna during 1939/1939 to Melbourne Australia’ by Anna Hacker.
Physical Format	Correspondence
	Letters
	Certificates