It is 29 years later and Oliwia Dabrowska is still taking inspiration from her role as 'The Girl in the Red Coat from 'Schindler's List

It is 29 years later and Oliwia Dabrowska is still taking inspiration from her role as ‘The Girl in the Red Coat from ‘Schindler’s List’. Image: Oliwia Dabrowska/Instagram

‘The Girl in the Red Coat’ from ‘Schindler’s List’ is now helping Ukrainian refugees

‘The Girl in the Red Coat’ from ‘Schindler’s List’ is now wearing a blue coat as she helps Ukrainian refugees enter Poland.

It is 29 years later and Oliwia Dabrowska is still taking inspiration from her role as 'The Girl in the Red Coat from 'Schindler's List

It is 29 years later and Oliwia Dabrowska is still taking inspiration from her role as ‘The Girl in the Red Coat from ‘Schindler’s List’. Image: Oliwia Dabrowska/Instagram

‘The Girl in the Red Coat’ from the popular film about a German industrialist who saved more than 1 300 Jews from the Nazis, Schindler’s List is now helping Ukrainian refugees enter Poland.

What happened to The Girl in the Red Coat?

Oliwia Dabrowska has made headlines over the years for her portrayal in the 1993 war drama starring Liam Neeson. She was reportedly chosen by the director, Steven Spielberg just days before filming started. In the film, her coat is the only thing that is in colour. To the film’s main character, Oskar Schindler, she represents the innocence of the Jews being slaughtered.

From a red coat to a blue coat

Dabrowsku – who was three years old when Schindler’s List was filmed – is now 32 and living in Poland and is taking action to help civilians attempting to flee the war.

According to Deadline, the former actress shared an artist’s rendering of her iconic scene in Schindler’s List with her coat colour 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,” Dabrowska wrote. “Let her be it again.”

She later told The Washington Post that because of this symbol, she could speak to more people

“I could involve more people — people who don’t know me as me, but they know I played this little girl in the red coat,” she told The Washington Post from her home in Krakow, Poland.

Helping Ukrainian refugees

She went to the Polish-Ukrainian border to help refugees and has been vocal on social media about the conflict ever since.

“I decided to help refugees for no specific reason. But when I started, when I saw those little kids, those eyes full of desperation, I decided to share with you what is happening.”

She also detailed what she saw when she was at the border. This included Russia’s bombing of Yavoriv in the Lviv region of western Ukraine.

“Today Russia bombed Yavoriv,” she wrote. “Only 20 kilometers from Poland. So close! I’m scared, but that only motivates me more to help refugees.”

She came across a Ukrainian mother with her two kids fleeing the war who needed transport to a distant city near the German border.

“Usually we transport refugees in our area, but this time we couldn’t just say ‘no’. They were desperate to get to their sister. Those kids…my God, I can barely hold back my tears,” she wrote.

“I can’t tell you everything I saw there, because I don’t have the right words in my mind…Nobody, who have never seen this, can’t imagine this nightmare in eyes of those people [sic].”

Heeding the call from Schindler’s List

In her latest post, she asked the public for help.

“I decided to help refugees for no specific reason…I decided to share with you what is happening. Now, after over 1,5 months of war and my volunteering [sic], I need to ask you for help.”

Many social media users believe that she is heeding the call she received when she was just three years old in Schindler’s List.