Akiva Govrin

Akiva Govrin (Hebrew: עקיבא גוברין; 12 August 1902 – 26 June 1980) was an Israeli politician who served as a government minister between December 1963 and January 1966. He was the country's first Minister of Tourism.^[1]

Akiva Govrin
Govrin in 1951
Ministerial roles
1963–1964	Minister without Portfolio
1964–1966	Minister of Tourism
Faction represented in the Knesset
1949–1965	Mapai
1965–1968	Alignment
1968–1969	Labor Party
1969	Alignment
Personal details
Born	(1902-08-12)12 August 1902 Podolia, Russian Empire
Died	26 June 1980(1980-06-26) (aged 77)

Akiva Govrin Square in Jerusalem

Biography

Born in the Podolia region of the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Govrin was one of the founders of the HeHalutz movement in Ukraine. He emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1922, and worked at Haifa Port and as a construction worker in Jerusalem, where he was one of the founders of the Jerusalem Workers' Council.

In 1925, he became a member of the actions committee of the Histadrut, and headed its unions department between 1943 and 1949. In 1949, he was elected to the Knesset on Mapai's list and was appointed chairman of the Labor committee. He was re-elected in 1951, 1955, 1959 and 1961. On 1 December 1963, he was appointed Minister without Portfolio, and when Levi Eshkol formed a new government in December 1964, Govrin became the country's first Minister of Tourism.

Although he retained his seat in the 1965 elections, he was left out of the new cabinet. He lost his seat in the 1969 elections.

His niece Michal Govrin is a novelist and theater director.^[1]