Upsetting Auschwitz dream

I am new here and I rarely remember my dreams but I one I experienced last night not only woke me but left me unable to sleep afterwards.

The first I remember; I was in Auschwitz, lying on one of the wooden 'beds' along with one other person. I was freezing cold, with only a sack as a sheet. The person next to me was sleeping and we were sharing this tiny piece of material.
Then three more people came to the bunk. It was barely big enough for two people so when another three came, I was practically falling off the edge. I vividly remember being woken and feeling so cold I wanted to cry. The newcomers were talking, moving around and I recall becoming very angry and irritated at their noise. All I wanted to do was sleep.

The next thing I remember I was stood on a platform, it was daylight and I had just got off a train. The platform was full of 'normal' people; in suits, with children, on their way to work etc. But then there were a few of us in the striped Auschwitz uniforms. We were free and I felt lost and scared. We had simply been dropped off somewhere and left. All the other people from the camp left and I wandered the platform, people trying not to stare at me and avoiding me completely. I lent against a pillar and two people from my old school were there, talking. The looked at me and started speaking to me as if it were lunch-break. They ignored that I was stood barefoot, in uniform, with a shaved head, starving and within an inch of my life.

That's all I remember. I was completely disturbed by this dream. The feelings in the camp were so vivid. I remembered more things that had happened inbetween the two events I mentioned, but I can no longer recall them.
Does anyone know what any of this could mean? I would be truly grateful for your advice. I'm 19, female and at university. The two people from school that were in my dream were both male and one was quite a close friend when I was 13-14. The other I didn't know at all, I took one subject with him in my final year, but we never spoke. I'm baffled as to what this dream means or why those particular people were in it.
Thanks for your help. I find dreams fascinating but know so little about them.

Can you please give me the first names of your two school friends? Names themselves are often a symbol in dreams, rather than the actual person. It might help put this together.

Sure...the guy I was friends with is Edward and the other Albert. Have you any ideas? I'm trying to remember if I have ever had any dreams like this before and I recall having dreams in concentration camps before but they haven't been as vivid or specific before. Thanks for your help!

Hi alittlelost,

Okay, Edward means happy or fortunate guardian or protector.

Albert means noble and bright, or bright nobility, maybe.

It sounds like a pretty terrifying dream! I know Auschwitz is open for tours now, and one person had a dream they posted just the other day, after having gone there to tour the place. I have to wonder if there is some way in which you feel you are a prisoner, or starved for something (could be other than literal food, like knowledge, wisdom, something that feeds your mind/soul/spirit, rather than your body). Do you feel left out in the cold in some situation? Like you're only being given a scratch burlap sack for cover, when you're used to comfortable cotton sheets? Do you feel crowded in some way? Is there, in other words, something in your waking life that brings out those particular feelings, though probably to a lesser degree than in the dream? Dreams tend to exaggerate to make their points and get our attention.

The second paragraph, where you're stood on a platform as if you are basically on display, reminds me of a movie I saw long ago, about a white woman who had been taken by Native Americans when they were at war, and she had become part of them, as so many did, but was then forced back to a white world when someone found her. She was treated as if all she'd supposedly been through was somehow *her* fault, and people didn't seem to be able to see what had happened to her with any sense of compassion, and that's what this part of the dream seems to be about. Is there something bad that happened to you, which people who should be responding to you as guardians or protectors or bright nobility can't seem to even see? Maybe it is your parents? A boyfriend? Someone you look to to protect you who is falling short and isn't doing it at all? They are just seemingly going on about their daily business, not really seeing you at all, just barely acknowledging your presence.

Males in dreams also often represent our own inner masculine side, which is the same as our left brain, and the parts of us that use intellect, reason, language, science skills, and who is practical and assertive. Could it also possibly that those parts of yourself are not being fed and nurtured well, and are making you feel abandoned in a way as well? It's sort of interesting in that sense that the older of the two males is one you never spoke with, as if there may be some undiscovered parts of your male side that you need to find and communicate with in order to feel whole and stop feeling like a prisoner.

You might consider that pillar you're propped against, as well, which must have supported you. A pillar is a world axis, as it is said to join Heaven and Earth, and also often symbolizes the Tree of Life. There may be a reference here of a need to look UP, seek a Higher Power as a guardian, rather than a couple of school boys. A pillar is also said to raise the sacred above the profane or ordinary. So the solution may well be there within the dream.

What do you think? Does any of that feel like it resonates for you?

Wow. That's amazing, thank-you very much!
It's given me plenty to think about. Your suggestions for the platform part of the dream are uncannily like my relationship with my father...I would never have considered this so thank-you very much.

The cold bit may also be referring to my relationship with my mother at the moment, there is definitely something she is holding back about and it frustrates me that she will not speak to me about it, it's as if she thinks I am too delicate to cope.

The two last parts...maybe I am missing learning and school more than I realise and as for the pillar; I never fully explored religion so it's perfectly possible that this is also true.

Thank-you ever so much for your help. It has been very revealing. Dreams can be so complicated, it's fascinating.

You're very welcome! I'm glad it was helpful. Your mom is probably just being protective about something. Teenagers are hard, as you're never quite sure whether they're adults or children in different situations. It sounds as if you will enjoy going back to university, and religion can be a whole new world to explore, for sure!

All best!