This study is based on the testimonies submitted by former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners to Polish psychiatrists in 1973. The respondents gave accounts of the daily camp custom of dream interpretation. The method of dream explanation in the camp was not sophisticated. It was a simple way of understanding dreams as future-oriented signs of the dreamer’s fate. However, the custom of interpreting dreams in Auschwitz can be described as a complex and multilevel ritual that had at least 3 dimensions: individual, interpersonal, and social. On the individual level, this ritual was oriented on revealing the inmates’ future. A prisoner, listening to a dream reader, could receive a good or bad prophecy, and this uncertainty was the core of the process. The interpersonal dimension of this ritual was connected with the inmates’ need to capture others’ attention. On the social level, dream sharing was a community-building activity. On each of these levels, finding the meaning of a dream was not as important as being engaged in closer relationships with other inmates. This article is an attempt to characterize the Auschwitz ritual of dream interpretation in light of various branches of cultural and dream studies as well as Randall Collins’s theory of interaction ritual chains.

中文翻译：

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奥斯威辛集中营的解梦仪式。

本研究基于前奥斯威辛集中营囚犯于 1973 年提交给波兰精神病学家的证词。受访者讲述了营地日常解释梦的习俗。营地里解梦的方法并不复杂。这是一种将梦理解为梦想者命运面向未来的标志的简单方法。然而，奥斯维辛解释梦的习俗可以被描述为一种复杂的、多层次的仪式，至少有 3 个维度：个人、人际关系和社会。在个人层面上，这种仪式旨在揭示囚犯的未来。一个囚犯，听梦中的读者，可能会收到一个好的或坏的预言，这种不确定性是这个过程的核心。这种仪式的人际关系维度与囚犯需要吸引他人注意力有关。在社会层面，梦想分享是一种社区建设活动。在这些层面上，找到梦的意义并不像与其他囚犯建立更密切的关系那么重要。本文试图根据文化和梦研究的各个分支以及兰德尔柯林斯的互动仪式链理论来描述奥斯威辛的梦解释仪式。