Dreaming “the Unspeakable”?: How the Auschwitz Concentration Camp Prisoners Experienced and Understood Their Dreams
This article explores the dream descriptions submitted in 1973-1974 by former Polish prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp in response to a questionnaire sent out by Polish psychiatrists. These descriptions are being investigated as testimonies that represent the Auschwitz inmates’ experienc...
| Published in: | Anthropology of consciousness |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Anthropological Association
[2020]
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| In: |
Anthropology of consciousness
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Auschwitz concentration camp
/ Prisoner
/ Dream interpretation
/ History 1973-1974
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion BH Judaism ZD Psychology |
| Further subjects: | B
dream experience
B Trauma B Dreams B subjective dream theories B the Holocaust |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This article explores the dream descriptions submitted in 1973-1974 by former Polish prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp in response to a questionnaire sent out by Polish psychiatrists. These descriptions are being investigated as testimonies that represent the Auschwitz inmates’ experiences commonly regarded as “unspeakable.” Not only the dream experience itself, but also the respondents’ attitudes toward and beliefs about dreams are taken into consideration in an attempt to understand the impact of the Holocaust on the survivors. Their general inability of comprehending the Auschwitz and post-Auschwitz dreams seems to be the most important and significant aspect of their testimonies. The experience of dreams as completely strange and astonishing phenomena is being explained in this article in connection with the respondents’ ability and inability to recover from their Holocaust trauma. |
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| ISSN: | 1556-3537 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Anthropology of consciousness
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12124 |