Dreams in times of disaster

According to Jung, the dreams of certain people, in certain moments, can express in a concentrated form the suffering of a whole group or population. In the article, two dreams of the Italian Jewish writer and Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi and two of Michihiko Hachiya, the head doctor of the Communication Hospital of Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing of the city, are examined. Those dreams suggest a plight which goes well beyond the personal experience. However, little in them seems related with the horrible catastrophes which triggered them: they rather express a general, almost unbelievable form of alienation. This appears more connected with a potential extreme anonymity of modern life that with the suffering of their death-bordering situation.