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Citaat:

This novel is very well written, and full of themes that apply today as much as they did during the holocaust. The thing I like about this story is it forces the reader to examine what makes a man good vs. what makes a man evil. Schindler starts the novel as a brilliant but self-serving war profiteer, exploiting his jewish workers in some of the same ways as the Nazi Party starts out doing. However, Schindler sees a few things that start him on the course to becoming a modern-day saviour, the most impressive image being the brutal killing of a little jewish girl whose beautiful red dress he had admired from across the ghetto.

Citaat:

"Perhaps the most moving image in Steven Spielberg's epic film "Schindler's List" is the little girl in the red coat, the only color image in the three-hour black and white film. However, most people do not know that this image is based upon a true story, a story told at the trial of Adolf Eichmann."

During Eichmann's 16 week trial, one witness after another appeared before Assistant Prosecutor (now Supreme Court Judge) Gavriel Bach to explain before world media the atrocities committed by the Nazis and Eichmann in the "final solution".

In a later interview, Judge Bach was asked to name the most moving moment in the trial.

Bach explained. It was when he was questioning Dr. Martin Földi, a survivor of Auschwitz, about the selection process at the train station. It was not consciously acknowledged at the time, but those who went to the left died and those who went to the right lived.

Dr. Földi was sent to the right with his 11 year old son. His wife and little daughter were taken to the left. The little girl was wearing a red coat. At the last minute, a guard sent Földi's son with the crowd to the left. Dr. Földi panicked thinking, how could this young boy find his mother and sister among the thousands there at the station. But then he knew ... he could find his sister because she was wearing the red coat. It would be "like a beacon" for the boy.

Then he states, "I never saw them again."

As horrible as this story is, like so many others told in his presence during the 16 week trial, what added to its horror was that, by chance, Bach had just bought a red coat for his own daughter.

Citaat:

When [Roma Ligocka] first saw Schindler's List at the premiere in Poland, Roma suddenly realized she was witnessing a part of her own life on the screen. She instinctively felt that she was the little girl in the red coat-the only spot of color in the film... Click to read more

In the fall of 2000, Roma Ligocka had her literary debut: her inspiring life story The Girl in the Red Coat was published, and became an international bestseller. Even as an adult, Roma Ligocka cannot forget the trauma of her early childhood... Click to read more