Schindlers List trauma

Girl in red coat from Schindlers List says role traumatized her

Oliwia Dabrowska, a 24-year-old Polish actress, played the infamous role of the girl in the red coat from Steven Spielbergs award-winning Holocaust film, Schindlers List.

The film is about Oskar Schindler, and his decision to savesome 1,000 Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his factory. The little girls red coat is perhaps the most symbolic part of the movie, as it is one of the few usages of color in the black and white film, and it portrays Schindlers change of heart.

But for Dabrowska, the role brought her trauma, and in an interview with the Times,Dabrowska says shes scarred for life.

I was ashamed of being in the movie and angry with my mother and father when they told anyone about the part, she said. People said, It must be so important to you, you must know so much about the Holocaust. I was frustrated by it all.

Dabrowska was only three years old when she starred in Spielbergs film, and although she promised the Jewish director shed only watch the film when she was 18, she first watched it when she was 11 and was horrified by the brutal scenes, including one where an SS officer shoots random women and children from his window

She said it took her years to overcome her emotions, but admits she eventually came around to feeling honored.

IrealizedI had been part of something I could be proud of, she said. Spielberg was right: I had to grow up to watch the film.