I was the girl in the red coat in Schindler’s List…

Sara Malm

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I was the girl in the red coat in Schindler’s List… and it ruined my life: Trauma of girl who became holocaust icon

• Oliwia Dabrowska, 24, played iconic role in 1993 film Schindler’s List
• Playing ‘the girl in red coat’ left her ‘ashamed’ and traumatised for years
• Oliwia’s character’s coat is the only colour in the black-and-white film

A little girl in a red coat becomes the catalyst which saves the lives of more than 1,000 Jews destined for the concentration camps in Steven Spielberg’s celebrated film Schindler’s List. But for the now 24-year-old woman who played the role in 1993, the iconic appearance left her traumatised for years. Oliwia Dabrowska was three years old when she starred as the girl in the red coat – the only flash of colour in the otherwise black-and-white film.

‘I was ashamed of being in the movie and angry with my mother and father when they told anyone about the part,’ the university student told The Times. She added that starring in the film led to much unwanted attention and harassment from well-meaning adults and school friends. ‘People said: “It must be so important to you, you must know so much about the Holocaust” I was frustrated by it all.’

Oliwia, from Krakow, said she was ‘horrified’ when watching the film for the first time at the age of 11, breaking her promise to director Steven Spielberg to wait until she was 18.

She told the newspaper: ‘I kept it secret for a long, long time, though at high school people got to know on the internet.

‘People said: “It must be so important to you, you must know so much about the Holocaust.” I was frustrated by it all.’

One of the most disturbing scenes is one showing the SS officer Amon Goeth, played by Ralph Fiennes, who arbitrarily shoots women and children from his window.

Oliwia told The Times: ‘It was too horrible. I could not understand much, but I was sure that I didn’t want to watch ever again in my life.’

In the film, Ms Dabrowska plays a ‘little girl in the red coat’ spotted by Nazi industrialist Oskar Schindler during the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto in 1943.

Read more: I was the girl…

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