Dreaming of Blighty: Newly uncovered journal reveals British PoW's fantasies

FROTHING pints of ale, roaring fires in the pub and homecooked puddings smothered in steaming custard.

Understandably the prisoners of war dreamed of liberation Understandably the prisoners of war dreamed of liberation [GETTY]

While prisoners of war slept at one camp in Nazi Germany these were the images that most frequently flooded their slumbering minds.

More than 70 years after being meticulously recorded by a British officer, the details of hundreds of dreams of captured soldiers have been unearthed. They provide a remarkable insight into the preoccupations of the men, who had no idea when they would see their families again. Most spent their nights thinking of Blighty and everything they missed most.

Major Kenneth Hopkins persuaded 80 fellow captives to take part in a two-year study, beginning in 1940 after the men were captured at Dunkirk. The British officer, a student psychologist before the Second World War, hoped to publish his work when peace was restored but died in the Laufen PoW camp.

His journals, neatly written in pencil in bound leather notebooks, were lying forgotten in an archive until recently discovered by an American academic. More than 500 dreams were recorded, including some about escaping and vivid nightmares about battles and death. It's thought that they indicate that some of the prisoners were suffering from post-traumatic stress.

"Dreams are the gateway to the unconscious," says Dr Deirdre Barrett, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in the US, who specialises in the study of dreams.

"We can't separate our dreams from what's happening in our waking lives. The prisoners were generally treated quite well at Laufen. They were not starving but food was limited, bland and repetitive. It's not surprising that food and nostalgia for what they were missing at home feature so prominently in so many of their dreams."

Recording one recurring dream a prisoner wrote: "I went home and went to the larder and ate everything I could see. Went out and met my sister and a friend at a restaurant and had a large dinner. Then went to another pub and had some food there. Then went to another pub and had more food. Went back to the first pub and found a good mixture of drinks, barley wine and mild ale. Then I had a dish of prunes and custard into which a bottle of ale had also been poured."

The officer's journals are thought to be unique because his notebooks were updated every morning while the details from the previous night were still fresh in the mind. There have been a handful of other studies involving prisoners' dreams but they were recorded long after the event.

According to Dr Barrett, the dreams appear to show that the PoWs fall into two main groups. On one hand are the soldiers who accept their fate, while on the other are those who are intent on escape. The first, bigger group tend to focus more on food and other comforts, while the second spend their sleeping hours rehearsing bids for freedom.

It's often overlooked that some Allied prisoners regarded capture as good fortune because it meant they would be safe, or simply felt there was no point trying to escape as the war would soon be over. In the journals from Laufen, a castle in Bavaria which was appropriated by the Nazis to hold Allied officers, one captive's dream reflects this. "The guards had gone off, leaving their rifles stuck in the ground. I was hoping no one would order us to arm ourselves and break out as I felt the time was not right."

ww2, world war two, world war 2, pow, prisoners of war, prisoners, dreams, fantasies, sleep, food, escape, escaping, german, guards, laufen, bavaria, allied, troops, soldiersOne PoW recalled a recurring dream about going to the pub [GETTY]

The dreams include tunnels, disguises and happy homecomings

Dr Deirdre Barrett, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

HOWEVER one band of prisoners became famous for an audacious escape in 1940 when some of the men slipped on to a laundry truck and later disguised themselves as women. Known as the Laufen Six they were recaptured and sent to Colditz, from where they again escaped. Among them was Pat Reid, who later wrote extensively about his exploits.

Two of these prisoners took part in Major Hopkins's study and, on the morning of his successful attempt, one even took time to write down a dream from the previous night. Perhaps the German guards should have taken more interest in the work of the British officer because the theme of his fantasy was about escaping.

"The vast majority did not dream about escaping but it's clearly on the minds of some who regarded it as their duty," says Dr Barrett. "The dreams include tunnels, disguises and happy homecomings."

In one anxiety dream a man is trying to get a horse away from one area to another without being noticed. Some of the dreams clearly indicate that their minds have been scarred by battle, such as this one: "Two Englishmen running from Germans intentionally dive into a vat of green acid. I am horrified. I want to help them but I knew I would be too late."

However Dr Barrett was surprised that there were relatively few other nightmares about the horrors of war. "One possible explanation is that many of these men were captured early in the war and were spared combat. You would expect survivors of D-Day or concentration camps to have very different dreams. The dreams in this study do include bombs being dropped and being shot at but many more simply reflect the tedium of being in a PoW camp, where they are bored to tears.

"Dreams don't have to be profound and they can be a coping strategy. Captivity dulls the emotions and that's also reflected in some of the dreams."

ww2, world war two, world war 2, pow, prisoners of war, prisoners, dreams, fantasies, sleep, food, escape, escaping, german, guards, laufen, bavaria, allied, troops, soldiersThe PoWs seemed to fall into two groups: those who accepted their fate and those intent on escape [REX]

There are also very few sexual dreams, mainly featuring forbidden off-limit figures such as the wives of German officers, or seduction by upper-class women.

Not much is known about Major Hopkins, a teacher, who was in his 40s when he was captured in France in May 1940.

But he appears to have settled well at Laufen, writing to his wife: "The camp is well organised, comfortable and the scenery beautiful. Send me my old khaki jacket, a collar and tie, some chocolate and some tobacco. Keep cheerful, things might have been much worse."

Prisoners organised shows at Laufen to pass the time and Christmas cards made in the camp have barbed wire wreathes.

The major also corresponded with his former tutor at Birmingham University, suggesting the dreams study. Sadly Hopkins died in the camp from a lung disease in 1942 and, although his notebooks were salvaged when Laufen was liberated, it seemed certain that his painstaking work would be forgotten.

Dr Barrett, who found the journals in a collection in London and will publish her research in the academic journal Imagination, Cognition and Personality, says: "Dreams are very intimate and personal. When I first came across them they grabbed my attention immediately. It is an amazing collection and you do feel a connection with the men.

"I also feel gratified that the work Major Hopkins began all those years ago has finally come to fruition."

ww2, world war two, world war 2, pow, prisoners of war, prisoners, dreams, fantasies, sleep, food, escape, escaping, german, guards, laufen, bavaria, allied, troops, soldiersScientists have yet to settle on a single theory about why we dream (PIC POSED BY MODEL) [GETTY]


DREAMS have fascinated us for centuries, although their purpose is still not properly understood.

They occur mainly in the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, when the brain is most active and most closely resembles its waking state. They can last from a few seconds to up to 20 minutes, while the average person has between three and five every night. However the majority are not remembered.

US president Abraham Lincoln is said to have foreseen his assassination. Inventors have also claimed to be inspired by their dreams.

The subject of dreams is out of our control but scientists have tried to establish the connection with our waking thoughts.

In the late 19th century Sigmund Freud was convinced dreams represented unfulfilled wishes.

More recent theories are that they are just another way that the brain processes information, or are similar to a clean-up operation by a computer and help erase material that's no longer needed.

It's also suggested that dreams are an extension of the wakeful thinking process. Business dilemmas, emotional problems and maths homework can all be solved during sleep.

Many scientists have concluded that dreams are just random firings of the brain, as it tries to piece together unconnected bits of information, and have no significance.

So it doesn't matter if we recall our dreams or not because they are meaningless.

That would help to explain why we have so many weird dreams.

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