RISASODI
365
communist , but he left the party later during the Hungarian upris–
ing. For him, and for many like him, bearing witness to the camps
was truly a part of their political battle - the same spirit that was
reflected in the Warsaw ghetto historians. Emanuel Ringelblum's
diary was not an end unto itself: obviously it was also a political
act.
tO
One of the ways of combatting Nazism was to denounce its
cnmes.
RS:
Was your writing also a political act?
PL:
Yes , of course ... among other things . First of all , as I've
already said - and honestly must say so - writing was a liberating
act. I had these things inside of me and I had to get them out. But at
the same time , it was also very political .
RS:
Is that still true today?
PL:
This book is a political book-in its own way. It's a moral book.
RS:
Especially since you try to draw parallels between today's moral
dilemmas and yesterday's.
PL:
Yes .
RS:
What do you think of the Waldheim affair?
PL:
I think the American Jews made a mistake because the uproar
they caused only played into his hands. I agree with Wiesenthal: in
these matters, you have to have the proof at hand . First gather the
proof, then make accusations .
RS:
It
seems that they have the proof.
PL:
It
seems so, but they're not willing to come forward with it. The
Yugoslavs also have proof, but for their own reasons, they're not
revealing it either.
It
was surely a strategic error to threaten to pro–
duce convincing evidence and then not release it. I don't think that
Waldheim is technically a war criminal. He was just one of 100,000
others like him . He was a lieutenant with some degree of respon–
sibility. He certainly signed some papers. He certainly lied. He
couldn't not have known what was happening at Salonika. It was
common knowledge . Certainly he knew, so he lied when he said he
didn't. He's a grey zoner! He's a man with a very real responsibility,
but one that dwells within the greater responsibility of the Nazi
machine.
RS:
Maybe he also fabricated his own set of truths?
PL:
Oh , he didn't need to. He's too lucid to need to fabricate a set of
truths , don't you think? He certainly is in possession of documents
10. See Emanuel Ringelblum,
Notes Jrom the Warsaw Ghetto
(Schocken Books: New
York , 1974).
