Girl in the red coat from 'Schindler's List' is all grown up and helping Ukrainian refugees
Oliwia Dabrowska was just three years old when she starred in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning film Schindler's List as the little girl in the red coat. She stood out as the only character in color in the black-and-white movie, symbolizing hope amid the film's Holocaust setting.
Now, Dabrowska is 32 and is once again embodying the beacon of light that her character was. The all-grown-up copywriter recently shared that she has volunteered to aid Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
"She was always the symbol of hope," the former actress wrote, sharing an artistic render of her iconic scene in the film. "Let her be it again."
Dabrowska, who hails from Krakow, Poland, told her followers she was leading a group of volunteers, providing aid to refugees arriving at the Polish border.
"Today, Russia bombed Yavoriv, only 20 kilometers from Poland. So close! I'm scared but that only motivates me more to help refugees," she shared, posting a photo of her in a high-vis jacket.
During a livestream, the 32-year-old talked about why she decided to volunteer.
"The people need help and we give them help. I really care about every single person on the border... I will do everything I can, I will never forget these people, those faces, those eyes, I will never forget what I've seen," Dabrowska said.
The former actress added there's only silence on the border, no crying or screaming.
"They scream inside and this is what I can't forget, and if I need to do this as the girl in the red coat, let it be."
Schindler's List, released in 1993, told the story of a German industrialist who saved more than a thousand Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust during World War II.
Dabrowska saw the film when she was 11, despite Spielberg saying she should wait until she was 18. She was horrified and ashamed of her participation in the movie, but years later realized the importance of her work.
"I had been part of something I could be part of," the former actress said when she was 23.