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himself. He knows what he did because he was there. But he's also
very astute, and he rightly counted on the solidarity of the Austrian
people. I heard a very interesting comment a while back .
If
in
Nixon's day the Watergate affair had been touched off
not
in the
United States but by another country, Nixon might never have
resigned . He might have stayed where he was, probably gaining
votes . And there would have been talk of a foreign conspiracy,
maybe inspired by the Russians!
RS:
Have you ever asked yourself what your life would have been
like without Auschwitz?
PL:
Yes, of course! Not only have I asked myself that question , but
everyone else asks me that too! I don't know how to answer. It's as if
I asked you,
"If
you hadn't been born in America, what would you
do?" You can't answer that.
RS:
Yes, but you had a life before Auschwitz.
PL:
Yes, I did . I don't know, but I can make some suppositions. I
probably wouldn't have taken up writing, or I would have written
who knows what. I was a chemist beforehand - by conviction , mind
you! In fact, I worked as a chemist all my life. I think I can take as
examples some of my friends who didn't go to Auschwitz and who
tranquilly continued in their professions . They started families. I
started a family , too; I got married and I had children. If I hadn't
gone to Auschwitz, I probably wouldn't have written, or I would
have written completely different things - maybe scholarly articles
about chemistry . I certainly possessed the capacity to write, I can't
deny that. I wasn't born of nothing: I had received a fairly rigid
classical education and I already possessed the faculty to write . But I
wouldn't have had - how can I explain it? - the "raw material" to
become a writer.
RS:
Do you concentrate on style in your books?
PL:
Now I do ; when I wrote
Survival in Auschwitz
I didn't.
RS:
And yet you have a compelling style .
PL:
At that time , I didn't pay any attention to style. I wrote
Survival in Auschwitz
without giving it a second thought: at night, in
the lab, on the train, wherever I happened to find myself. But I
didn't have much time then - I was also engaged to be married!
