Rome (AFP)

The secret of longevity of the Italian writer in Slovenian language Boris Pahor, deported by the Nazis, who celebrates his 106th birthday on Monday, is the sugar in coffee, according to the daily newspaper Trieste, Primorski Dnevnik.

The doyen of world literature, known in France for works like "Pelerin among the shadows", tells this newspaper of the Slovene minority in Trieste, "always listening to the needs of his organization".

After returning from the Nazi camps of Dachau and Bergen Belsen, Boris Pahor suffered from the liver and felt the need to go to the sun. "I took care of my liver with the sun, the sun protected my liver from bacilli," he said in a long interview with the newspaper.

Regarding drinks and food, he does not follow any particular requirements, but notes that some have commented to him that "he could not be a true Slovenian writer" because he does not like wine.

Boris Pahor's cute sin is coffee with milk. Until recently, he added three sachets of sugar to his coffee, "now only half."

"In the morning, I love pure coffee, obviously sweet, I also eat various types of fruits and millet".

For a long time, his wife Radoslav took care of his food, then an assistant and, for the last three years, Vera, his housekeeper from Bosnia who made him discover specialties.

"For example, we eat meat, I never liked it, and I would not buy it if it was me, but Mrs. Vera mixes it with other foods with a blender," says Pahor.

The writer likes rice more "I want it cooked" and among his favorite dishes, he quotes those based on zucchini.

About news reports that he could marry his housekeeper, he replied: "but no it's pure invention." The only thing he would want and "it's no secret, it would be to give the opportunity to Ms. Vera who cares so much of me, to touch a part of my retirement".

At the age of seven, Boris Pahor witnessed a fire on 13 July 1920 by the fascists of Narodni Dom, the building of the Slovenian community. A few years later, he joined the Yugoslav Liberation Army. In 1944, he was arrested and deported to Alsace (Natzweiler-Struthof), then to Germany (Dachau and Bergen-Belsen).

Most of his novels draw their inspiration from these years of trial.

Apart from "The Pilgrim among the Shadows" where he recounts his experience of the death camps, he also wrote "Spring Difficult" and "When Ulysses returns to Trieste", about the difficulties of the Slovenian minority in the great city of north-east of Italy.

© 2019 AFP