Oliwia Dabrowska was about 3 years old when she became an indelible part of cinema history in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning classic Schindler’s List.
As the little girl in the red coat walking through the Krakow Ghetto untouched as its residents are being “liquidated” by German troops, she was not only the only color in the otherwise black-and-white film, she also symbolized much of the film’s complicated dance between hope and hopelessness, violence and compassion, guilt and innocence.Schindler’s List was, of course, the story of a Nazi party member who helped thousands of Jews escape liquidation, a plot that is echoed in current news stories about Ukrainian civilians being assassinated en masse by Russian troops.
And like the hero of that film Dabrowska, now 32 and living in Poland, is taking action to help civilians attempting to flee the war.On March 9, the former actress shared an artist’s rendering of her iconic scene in the film with her coat color changed from red to blue to represent Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag, which she also shared as part of the post.“She was always the symbol of hope,” wrote Dabrowska. “Let her be it again.”A post shared by Oliwia Dąbrowska (@oliwia.dabrowska_)In the days that followed, Dabrowska went to the Polish-Ukrainian border to help refugees there.
She took to social media to ask for aid on their behalf.“We need your help here at the Polish-Ukrainian border,” she wrote. “Every little bit helps: we need material and financial donations, you can also volunteer to help out in person.
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