Date of publication: 06 Apr 2022 • 6 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 9 comments Oliwia Dabrowski was three years old when she played the role of the girl in the red coat. Photo by Universal Pictures
Content of the article
At times in Schindler’s List, a little girl appears to be walking indifferently among the Nazi massacre in Poland. Her red coat is for all intents and purposes the only color in the otherwise black and white film. The presence of the girl is unforgettable not only for the shock of color but also for her structured behavior among a multitude of anxious people. With its incompatibility, the bright red declared that there could be hope in a time when it was difficult to feel anything.
Advertising 2
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
This young actress was Oliwia Dabrowska. Today, she is a 32-year-old copywriter, still living in Poland, where the 1993 film was shot. But in recent weeks she has also been a humanitarian, like many Poles, helping to find housing for Ukrainian refugees and trying to raise funds for them. In the following Instagram post, she describes her feelings for the suffering of young Ukrainians. “These children… My God, I can hardly hold back my tears.” The grief he experiences appears in much of the post, including this statement (paraphrased): “You can not imagine the nightmare in the eyes of these people.”
Advertising 3
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
The Dabrowska family is also involved. They meet newcomers to reception centers and lead them far and wide to safety inside Poland or on its borders away from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. “I will do what I can, I will never forget these people, these faces, these eyes, I will never forget what I have seen,” he wrote. “You can not prepare for this, you can only imagine that there will be people suffering, children, the elderly, the sick.” It is never far from the depiction of this lonely little girl. While she has only vague memories of filming – she was only three at the time – she remembers being tired because she had to get up at 3am to be on set.
Advertising 4
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
As a college student, she told the Times: “I was ashamed to be in the movie and I was angry with my mom and dad when they told anyone about the role.” Participation in the film led to a lot of unwanted attention from well-meaning adults and school friends. “People used to say, ‘It has to be so important to you, you have to know so much about the Holocaust.’ “I was disappointed by all this.” Dabrowska said she was “terrified” when she first saw the film at the age of 11, although she had promised director Steven Spielberg she would not do it until she was 18. Much later he realized that “it was part of something I could be proud of. “Spielberg was right: I had to grow up to see the film.” (Schindler’s List won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Spielberg, and three Golden Globes, and is still as haunting and exciting as it was three decades ago.)
Advertising 5
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Advertising 6
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Industrialist Oscar Schindler, an ardent Nazi, had spotted – at least as shown in the film – a little girl walking alone in a crowd of terrified people, and when she later saw the child’s corpse, she was moved to save as many Jews as she could, hiding as many them in common view of its factories. The real Schindler is believed to have kept about 1,200 Polish Jews alive, although there is little evidence that he ever saw such a girl. However, these days Dabrowska is gaining strength from this child, knowing that people need help again to escape the horrors of war. Contrary to what one might expect, there is no screaming or crying at the border, he says – just silence. “They are screaming inside and this is what I can not forget. And if I have to do this as the girl in the red coat, let it be done. “
Share this article on your social network
Advertising
This ad has not been uploaded yet, but your article continues below.
NP Posted
Sign up to receive daily top stories from National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. By clicking the subscribe button you agree to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thank you for your registration!
A welcome email is on its way. If you do not see it, check the junk folder. The next issue of NP Posted will be in your inbox soon. We encountered a problem with your registration. PLEASE try again
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but political forum for discussion and encourages all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour to monitor before appearing on the site. We ask that you retain your comments regarding and with respect. We’ve activated email notifications — you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, an update on a comment thread that follows, or if a user follows the comments. See the Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to customize your email settings.
