Berl Repetur

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Berl Repetur
Date of birth	1902
Place of birth	Ruzhyn, Russian Empire
Year of Aliyah	1920
Date of death	23 March 1989
Knesset(s)	1st
Party	Mapam

Berl Repetur (Hebrew: ברל רפטור‎, born 1902, died 23 March 1989) was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence.

[edit] Biography

Born in Ruzhyn in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Repetur was educated in a heder, and was a member of the Dror and HaHalutz youth movements. During the pogroms he was involved in organising Jewish defence groups.

In 1920 he immigrated to Mandate Palestine and joined the Labour Unity and the Hagana in Haifa. In 1922 he became a member of the Haifa Workers Council secretariat. In 1927 he was appointed secretary of the Labour Centre, which was responsible for reducing unemployment, and was also a head of Solel Boneh, a construction company.

In 1935 and 1939 Repetur was a delegate to Zionist congresses, and also went on missions to Germany and Poland.

In 1944 he was amongst the "B faction" that split from Mapai and later formed Mapam together with Labour Unity and Poale Zion. Two years later he was arrested by the British Authorities during Operation Agatha and imprisoned in Rafah.

In 1948 Repetur joined the pre-state legislature, Moetzet HaAm (later the Provisional State Council), and was amongst the signatories of Israel's declaration of independence. He was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 on Mapam's list, but lost his seat in the 1951 elections. He died in 1989.

Repetur's wife Sonia was a founder of kibbutz Yagur and an aunt of politician Yossi Sarid.

[edit] Bibliography

• Without Let Up (1973) Autobiography

[edit] External links

• Berl Repetur Knesset website (English)