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Sofocle  VENIZELOS

  Sofocle Venizelos nacque a Chania nell'isola di Creta il 3 novembre del 1894 ed è stato un eminente uomo politico greco, tre volte Primo Ministro (una delle tre in esilio).

 Figlio secondogenito di Eleftherios Venizelos anch'egli Primo Ministro Greco, durante la prima guerra mondiale partecipò con onore alla campagna in Asia Minore come Capitano di Artiglieria.

 Al ritorno dalla guerra si congedò e nel 1920 venne eletto nelle file del Partito Liberale.

 Bridgista di massimo livello, negli anni '30, esule volontario in terra transalpina, fece parte della fortissima Squadra Francese  (i famosi Mousquetaires) che fu l'unica capace di contrastare il predominio assoluto del mitico Culbertson e che nel 1935  vinse i Campionati d'Europa a Bruxelles e quelli Mondiali a New York.

 Durante l'occupazione nazista era ambasciatore negli Stati Uniti e si unì al  Governo greco che era in esilio al Cairo divenendone  Primo Ministro nel 1944.

 Nel dopoguerra fu Vice Presidente del Partito Liberale, Ministro e Primo Ministro dal 1944 al 1950/51.

Morì il 7 febbraio del 1964 in un naufragio nel mar Egeo del traghetto Hellas che da Chania rientrava al Pireo e le sue spoglie riposano nell'isola natia accanto a quelle del padre.

Sophoklis Venizelos (Greek:  3 November 1894 - 7 February 1964) was a prominent Greek politician who three times served as Prime Minister of Greece (once in exile).

The second-born son of Eleftherios Venizelos, Sophoklis served with distinction in the Greek Army during the First World War and the initial phases of the Asia Minor campaign, reaching the rank of Captain of Artillery.

He resigned from the Army and was elected as a MP with his father's Liberal Party in the 1920 elections.

In 1941, after Greece was occupied by German troops, he became ambassador to the United States, representing the Greek government in exile based in Cairo. He became a minister of that government in 1943, and its Prime Minister in 1944.

After the end of the war, he returned to Greece where he became Vice President of the Liberal Party (led by Themistoklis Sophoulis) and a minister in the first post-war government led by Georgios Papandreou. In 1948, he assumed the leadership of the party and became a minister in a number of short-lived liberal governments led by Papandreou and Nikolaos Plastiras; he was also the Prime Minister of two such governments.

In 1954, his longtime friendship with Georgios Papandreou was shaken, and he formed the rival Liberal Democratic Union party.

The rift was bridged in 1958, and in 1961 he became a founding member of Papandreou's Center Union party, which he served until his death in 1964.

Venizelos died on the passenger ship Hellas in the Aegean Sea, en route from Chania to Piraeus. His grave lies next to his father's on the island of Crete.