Yosef Govrin

Yosef Govrin was born in 1930 in Chernivtsi

Govrin was born in Chernivtsi in 1930 to David and Zadcanit Gurvitz and grew up in Edinitz, Bessarabia. In 1941 the family was deported to Transnistria, where his father was murdered. He and his mother survived and were liberated by the Red Army in March 1944.

In 1946 they sailed from the Adriatic coast on a ship of Jewish refugees bound for the Land of Israel. The British Navy stopped the ship and sent its passengers to detention camps in Cyprus. They were allowed into the country in 1947.

He passed external matriculation exams at Herzliya Gymnasium in Tel Aviv in 1951. He earned a B.A., an M.A. and a Ph.D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Jewish history and international relations. In the reserves he served as a liaison officer to UN forces in Sinai and the Golan Heights.

Govrin joined the Foreign Ministry in 1953 and served in Sydney, Moscow and Buenos Aires. He directed the East European Department from 1976 to 1985, then was ambassador to Romania. He later served as deputy director-general and, from 1993 to 1995, as ambassador to Austria.

After retiring in 1996 he was a research fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He wrote books on Israeli-Soviet relations, Eastern Europe and his Holocaust memories. He was married to biochemist Hanna Govrin and died in 2021.