An analysis of narratives about camp and post-camp dreams of former prisoners of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau
Weronika Wosińska | Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
Wanda Zagórska | Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
The research aim was to gain a more thorough understanding of the experiences by former prisoners of the trauma
of the time spent in a Nazi concentration camp and reworking it by dreaming. The material comprised 117 written accounts obtained
by psychiatrist Stanisław Kłodziński in the 1970s from 38 former Polish national prisoners of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau (17 women and
21 men). A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the narratives was carried out and two types of dreams were compared in terms
of chosen characteristics: camp and post-camp dreams. Camp experiences and a negative emotional tone occurred significantly more
often in post-camp dreams. The “beauty” and “symbolicity” categories were present significantly more frequently in camp dreams. It
was found that motives related to the time spent in the camp appeared persistently in dreams. This was accompanied by a negative
affect and lack of symbolicity typical of PTSD nightmares.
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Jeftic, Alma, Thomas Van de Putte & Johana Wyss
2023. Introduction. Narrative Inquiry 33:2 ► pp. 259 ff.
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