In 1993, as a three-year-old, she starred in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List as the girl in a red coat. In the movie her character became famous as a symbol of anti-war sentiment. Today Oliwia Dąbrowska, a 32-year-old woman, supports Ukrainians and is still vociferously against the war. This time she helps refugees cross the Ukraine-Poland border.
The girl in a red coat
In the context of the war in Ukraine, Oliwia Dąbrowska decided to bring back her symbolic character of a girl in a red coat, walking through the former Krakow ghetto against the black-and-white background. “This girl has always been a symbol of hope. May she be one once again,” Oliwia wrote on Instagram, adding a photo from Spielberg’s Oscar-winning movie.
“No” to the war
In addition to supporting refugees at the border, Oliwia was instrumental in organizing a collection of books in the Ukrainian language. The volunteers traveled all the way to Lviv to do this. As she observes, “As a book lover and a librarian by profession, I know how important reading is, especially at this difficult time. A good book will make you forget about all the bad things happening around you. That’s why I’m so big on providing books to all those who have had to leave their own libraries in the war-stricken homeland.”
At the border, Oliwia helps refugees together with her mother. They work physically and are active online, launching and coordinating further collections. As a result, more than 50 first-aid kits have been delivered to Ukrainian soldiers; the volunteers collected the kits by visiting car workshops, among others.
“I am scared, but this urges me all the more to help the refugees. I can’t tell you everything I saw there because I don’t have the right words to do so … No one who has not experienced it first-hand can imagine the nightmare evident in the eyes of these people,” she confessed, calling on for supporting the refugees and uniting for peace.
