Leo and Mina Fink: For the greater good (Margaret Taft, Monash Publishing)

In this biography of the working lives of an impressive 20th-century power couple, the competing forces of hope and catastrophe are clearly at work. Historian Margaret Taft has expertly detailed how and why Leo and Mina Fink, successful businesspeople, assisted Holocaust survivors to leave the horrors of Europe and forge new lives in Australia. She also tells the riveting tale of their background in Bialystok and we journey with Leo to Palestine, via Weimar Germany, before he settles on Australia as the land of his future. By dint of their intelligence, humanity and close-knit Jewish community, the Finks put their good fortune to practical use, channelling their energy into the humanitarian effort to resettle Jewish refugees in Australia. The reason private citizens like the Finks had to help make this happen was because the Australian Government, taking its lead from the voting public, wanted to keep Jewish immigration to an ‘inconspicuous trickle’. Therefore, we had a quota, in force from mid-1946, which limited the number of Jewish immigrants on any one vessel to 25 percent. Our government provided no financial assistance to Jewish refugees once they had arrived; survival depended on people in the community helping each other. It’s sobering during our present difficult times to be reminded that the more things change the more they stay the same—but it’s important to remember that individuals can effect great change. This is a fascinating and inspirational Australian story. 

 Julia Taylor worked in trade publishing for many years.  

Category: Reviews