Leo was born on 31 October 1901 at Bialystok, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire.  He was the eldest son of Mordechai Fink, a manufacturer, and his wife, Masia.  He was educated at Zeligman’s Gymnasium, Bialystok.  Following his finishing school, Leon went to Palestine in a pioneer corps program for two years.  Between 1922 and 1926, he studied civil engineering in Berlin and at Altenburg, Germany.  Leo then worked in his family’s woollen mill at Galatz, Romania, but unfortunately, the business was not successful.

In 1928, Leo and two of his brothers emigrated to Victoria and lived on a farm at Berwick, which had been established to assist Jewish settlement.  A year later, they moved to Melbourne and established a family business on the site that led to the formation of United Woollen Mills and United Carpet Mills.  By 1931, business was good for the brothers.  They were manufacturing felt and knitted goods out of a rented factory on Queens Parade in Clifton Hill.   On 2 March 1931, the company authorised Leo with a credit note of fifteen hundred pounds to buy machinery in Europe, which would enhance their Melbourne business.   At a time when the Great Depression had driven unemployment in Australia to 32 per cent, business expansion of this magnitude was a considerable achievement.   Leo planned his trip to include Bialystok, Poland, where he would visit his parents and sister.

Once back in Bialystok, Leo met Mina, and on 20 September 1932, they were married and then returned to Melbourne, arriving on 29 November 1932.  Their address was 33 Gipps Street, East Melbourne, and the house was a small, single-storey workman’s cottage.

Leo became involved with Kadimah – the society dedicated to maintaining interest in Jewish history, and Yiddish language and culture.  He became a committee member in 1938 and president in 1940.  Between 1943 and 1947, he presided over the United Jewish Overseas Relief Fund, set up to assist survivors of the Holocaust. Under Leo’s leadership, the organisation became the largest Jewish organisation in Australia.  From the end of World War II, the organisation also assisted those who had lived through the atrocities of Nazism to emigrate and settle in Australia.  It was Melbourne that became the focus of the organisation, and Leo became a leader in lobbying the government and together with public pressure to limit levels of Jewish immigration. He developed a close relationship with Arthur Calwell, who was at that time the Minister for Immigration.

Much of Leo’s work involved resettlement issues, and it was agreed that the organisation should merge with the Australian Jewish Welfare Society.  This took place in 1947, and the Australian Jewish Welfare and Relief Society was formed.  Leo was elected president of the new body, a position he held until 1960.  During this period, he filled various roles on both the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.   He travelled frequently to Europe and the USA, raising funds for the organisation’s immigration program and representing Australia at Jewish conferences.  In 1963, the Australian Wool Industries, of which Leo was the founding chairman, opened a factory at Ashdod, Israel, to process Australian wool.

Leo’s support for multiculturalism brought him into conflict with those who did not support assimilation, as well as with some local Zionists who considered that Jewish migrants should have been encouraged to go to Israel rather than Australia. In 1959, the Hebrew Immigration Assistance Service, USA, granted him an award of honour. 

Leo died in Melbourne of cancer on 20 September 1972, the couple’s fortieth wedding anniversary.  He was survived by Mina and two children, Freda and Nathan.  Three buildings in Melbourne bear his name – Leo Fink Court, a block of AJWRS units for the elderly at St Kilda; Kadimah Hall and the Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre, both at Elsternwick.   Mina was a most successful woman in her own right, and her story will be told next week.

The article below was published in hardcopy in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14 (Melbourne University Press), 1996

We must continue to develop the work in every possible direction and be prepared for the many tasks that await us. When the guns cease firing…when the war will finally come to its victorious conclusion – and we know that this day is not far off – the Jewish battle for bringing our brethren back to health and normal life will just begin. When Europe is finally freed, the remnants of European Jewry will present a ghastly picture of havoc and utter misery. They can be helped only by a concerted and sustained effort of their fellow Jews in the free countries. In this global effort of world Jewry, we Jews in Australia will have to play a part that far outweighs our numerical strength.’ – Leo Fink, United Jewish Overseas Relief Fund 1943-44 Annual Report

‘On today’s immigration depends the survival of Jewish communal life in this country. We can replenish and revitalise our stock today. Tomorrow it may be too late.’ – Leo Fink, 1947

‘I was born in the Shtetl and regard myself as a Shtetl product: a Jew who brought with him qualifications bred in the life of the Shtetl, which is a combination of many factors; its stark realism and its sensitive romanticism; a rational appreciation of human values as well as an understanding of their failings in the struggle for survival against great odds; a love for humanity and for one’s fellow man.’ – Leo Fink speech written before his death and quoted at his shloshim, 23 October 1972

‘We had a philosophy of recreating a Jewish group life in a vibrant, cohesive Jewish community here in Australia.’ – Leo Fink shortly before he died in 1972

‘The Holocaust shattered me. I felt that we cannot accept the situation with resignation. Something had to be done.’ – Leo Fink reflecting on why he became active in welfare during the war, 1972

Leo’s obituary, published in the Australian Jewish News on 29 September 1972, included the following:

‘He was unique in his generation – an industrialist and an intellectual who believed that the unfortunate of the world was entitled not to charity but to the means for their own rehabilitation’.

‘It was his historic privilege to become and to remain a Jewish pioneer who used the best of yesterday for the upbuilding of the Jewish tomorrow.’ – Rabbi J Schreiber of Kew Hebrew Congregation, 21 September, 1972

‘He [Leo] saw the true purpose of his welfare work to be the uplifting of the migrant and the underprivileged so that they, in turn, could not only receive but in future would be the best people to help others.’ – Nathan Fink (son), speech given at his son’s bar mitzvah, 1975

The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:

Australian Dictionary of Biography – Robert L Benjamin; Edge of the Diaspora  – Suzanne Rutland; The Jews in Australia, vols 1-2 (Melb, 1991) H L and W D Rubinstein; The Leo and Mina Fink Story – Monash University; Australian Jewish News, 29 Sept 1972; Australian Jewish Welfare and Relief Society reports and minute books (Jewish Welfare Society Archives, Melbourne); Archives of Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies; Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Australian Jewish Historical Society Victoria