Historical Figure
Silvio Berlusconi
1936–2023
Italian media tycoon and politician (1936–2023)
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Biography
Silvio Berlusconi was an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1994 to 2013; a member of the Senate of the Republic from 2022 until his death in 2023, and previously from March to November 2013; and a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2019 to 2022, and previously from 1999 to 2001. At the time of his death in 2023, he had a net worth of US$6.8 billion according to Forbes, making him the 352nd-richest man in the world and the third-wealthiest person in Italy.
Timeline
The story of Silvio Berlusconi, told in moments.
Bought AC Milan football club, beginning a 31-year ownership. Already controlled Mediaset, Italy's largest commercial broadcasting company. By his 40s, he was one of the richest men in the country.
Won the Italian general election and became prime minister, founding his own party, Forza Italia, just months before the vote. Served three separate terms totaling nine years, the longest of any postwar Italian PM.
Convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to community service at an old-age home. Expelled from the Senate. Had faced decades of criminal proceedings, from bribery charges to trials involving underage prostitution.
In Their Own Words (20)
(Italian language) [...] io, a parlare con Zelensky, se fossi stato il Presidente del Consiglio non ci sarei mai andato. Perché, come sapete, stiamo assistendo alla devastazione del suo paese e alla strage di suoi soldati e di suoi civili. Bastava che lui cessasse di attaccare le due repubbliche autonome del Donbass e questo non sarebbe avvenuto; quindi io giudico molto molto, molto negativamente il comportamento di questo signore.
[...] I, talking to Zelensky, if I had been the Prime Minister I would never have gone. Because, as you know, we are witnessing the devastation of his country and the massacre of his soldiers and civilians. It was enough for him to stop attacking the two autonomous republics of Donbass and this would not have happened; so I judge very very, very negatively the behavior of this gentleman., 2023
Massacres of civilians in Bucha and other localities are real war crimes.
"Silvio Berlusconi: Ex-PM defends Russian war on eve of Italian election", BBC News (23 September 2022)., 2022
I added extra stimulation ... if you win against one of these great teams, I’ll send a bus full of whores to the locker room.
Jokingly said to his soccer team Monza A.C., quoted in "Silvio Berlusconi Promises ‘Busload of Whores’ if His Soccer Team Wins", Daily Beast, 14 December 2022, 2022
[On the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine] Putin was pushed by the Russian population, by his party and by his ministers to invent this special operation.
2022
[To the] edge of the abyss.
On Italy, as reported in "Italy on 'edge of abyss', says Silvio Berlusconi, offering a hand", The Guardian (9 December 2012), 2012
Artifacts (15)
whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history
ds; in 1999, he was awarded the highest literary honour: the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy noted him as a writer "whose frolicsome black fables portray the forgotten face of history"....
strenuous career as celebrity-author-artist-Socialist
lities. In his various critiques of Grass's works, Updike wrote that Grass had been consumed by his "strenuous career as celebrity-author-artist-Socialist" and said about one of his later novels that...
Berlusconneries - Les joies du camping et du bronzage: Les joies du camping et du bronzage
Le Duce du rire Quel chef de gouvernement peut se comparer à Napoléon et à Jésus-Christ, dire et redire qu'Obama est " beau et bronzé ", nommer au poste de ministre de la Condition féminine une...
One explanation for [Grass']s strange behavior might be found in the fact that G...
n cultural figure who had refused to meet with him when he served as Israeli ambassador to Germany. Primor noted: "One explanation for [Grass']s strange behavior might be found in the fact that Grass...
It happened as it did to many of my age. We were in the labour service and all a...
ther the circumstances that probably triggered and nourished [his] decision to enlist." To the BBC, Grass said in 2006: "It happened as it did to many of my age. We were in the labour service and all...
(Was gesagt werden muss) was published in several European newspapers. Grass exp...
ountries refused to repatriate some of the looted art. On 4 April 2012, Grass's poem "What Must Be Said" (Was gesagt werden muss) was published in several European newspapers. Grass expressed his...
After 60 years, this confession comes a bit too late. I can't understand how som...
hypocrisy in not earlier disclosing his SS membership. Joachim Fest, a biographer of Adolf Hitler, remarked on Grass's disclosure: "After 60 years, this confession comes a bit too late. I can't...
It is unacceptable for a city where the first blood was shed, where World War II...
Grass to relinquish his honorary citizenship of Gdańsk. Jacek Kurski, a Law and Justice politician, said, "It is unacceptable for a city where the first blood was shed, where World War II began, to...
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