Akiva Govrin

Akiva Govrin was born in 1902 in Shpykiv

Govrin was born in 1902 in Shpykiv, in the Podolia region of the Russian Empire, today in Ukraine. His father, Mordechai Asher Globman, was an educator and Zionist activist. Govrin helped found the HeHalutz movement in his hometown.

In 1921 he crossed into Bessarabia, and in 1922 he moved to the Land of Israel. He worked at Haifa Port and in construction in Jerusalem, where he helped found the Jerusalem Workers' Council. During the riots of the Tarpat period he took part in defending Atarot and other places in Jerusalem.

From 1925 he sat on the actions committee of the Histadrut, and he headed its unions department from 1943 to 1949. In 1949 he entered the Knesset for Mapai and chaired its Labor committee, working on labor and social laws such as the National Insurance law. In the 1950s he chaired the Mapai faction and the coalition.

In December 1963 he became Minister without Portfolio, handling trade and industry matters. In December 1964 he became the first Minister of Tourism, but he did not manage to pass a tourism law. He left the cabinet in early 1966, then chaired his party's economic committee, and lost his Knesset seat in the 1969 elections.