Aharon Becker

Aharon Becker was born in 1905 in Kobryn

Becker was born in 1905 in Kobryn, then in the Russian Empire. His family moved several times, and he studied at a heder and a Russian gymnasium. He was active in a Zionist youth group until the Soviet authorities closed it in 1920.

After his family returned to an area under Polish rule, he studied bookkeeping at a trade school. He also joined the HeHalutz HaTzair movement.

In 1925 he moved to Mandatory Palestine and worked in farming in Petah Tikva and then in construction. He helped found the Hebrew Socialist Youth in 1926 and held posts in the workers councils of Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv. In 1948 he went to the United States to buy arms for the IDF and later ran the Supply Authority.

From 1949 he headed the Histadrut trade union department, and in 1961 he became its secretary, serving until 1969. He was elected to the Knesset for Mapai in 1955 and 1959 but resigned both times, then served from 1961 until he lost his seat in the 1973 elections.

In 1974 he became chairman of the Kupat Holim central committee. He died in 1995, and a street in Tel Aviv bears his name.