In Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning film, ‘Schindler's List’, it tells the incredible true story of a German businessman, Oskar Schindler, who saved over one thousand Jews during World War II. The film takes place in Krakow, Poland beginning in the year 1939, where an ambitious, money-hungry Oskar Schindler was ready to make his fortune from the war. Throughout the film, there are several symbols including characters, and colors used to represent abstract concepts. The most influential scene in the film possesses the most significant symbol: being a girl in the red coat.
Continuing the topic, the scene is relatively short, but its connotation is substantial to the film. While it’s a three-hour film, the scene occurs a little after the first hour, while the plot is still developing and before Oskar Schindler decided to risk his business to save Jewish lives. First, the scene begins with Schindler and his wife horseback riding through Poland and abruptly stopping, hearing all the commotion coming from the Krakow ghetto. During Germany’s conquest for Europe, Jewish families were forced to live in ghettos, leaving their homes behind and their livelihood. The SS began liquidating the ghetto in 1942, murdering Jewish families that were hiding and sending the rest to concentration camps including Auschwitz. Schindler immediately catches sight of a young Jewish girl who's at least three years old, aimlessly walking through the ghetto while everything around her seems to be falling apart. Jewish families’ belongings are being tossed from windows, while others are being executed on the streets. Meanwhile, she calmly strolls through the streets as if she’s invisible. Schindler’s wife can no longer bear to watch, so they soon carry on among themselves.
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Furthermore, it seems that this scene is simplistic, but it shouldn’t be underestimated for its significant role in the film. Moreover, the literal meaning of this scene is the Jewish family's livelihood being stripped from them during World War II. This two-minute scene represents the hardship and chaos millions of Jews went through. Let's analyze this part without the girl in the red coat. You subtract her from the scene, and all you have is murder, poverty, and injustice. The SS is throwing individuals' belongings out the window of their rooms, while others are being shot in the head for no reason. The ones who aren’t being executed will eventually meet their certain death, going on trains to concentration camps all over Europe. Again, these liquidations occurred all over Europe as the Nazis continued to invade neighboring countries. These raids were not only exaggerations of the Krakow ghetto, but it’s literally what occurred in dozens of ghettos across Europe. The estimated six-year period of World War II was a living hell for most Jewish families, and millions of them lost their lives.
Equally important, this scene has a great amount of symbolic meaning to the film. What’s symbolic is that in a dominantly black and white film, the only colored object is the young Jewish girl's red jacket. The jacket can be red for the sole purpose that it represents the ‘red flag’ the Jews waved, hoping the allied powers would come to rescue them. Another reason for the choice of red could represent the bloodshed of the Jews during World War II, as over six million Jews were killed. Not to forget, the little girl also has symbolic meaning. This young girl is a representation of innocent Jews being executed. While she’s walking, the viewer may notice that the guards pay little to no attention to her. The only interaction she has with one is when the SS guard gently helps her get back in line with the other Jews. Meanwhile, she wanders off again to hide and the SS doesn’t seem to care. The guards are oblivious to her, which represents her innocence, and has done no such crime to gain their attention. It seems that once Schindler spots her, he realizes the horror of Jewish lives during the Holocaust. This scene represents an epiphany for Schindler, realizing the inhumane acts being enforced by the Nazi Party. Also, one could argue that the reason the film is mainly in black and white is that it reflected how the Nazis thought, referring to black and white thinking. This method of thinking is described as the failure in a person’s mind to bring together the dichotomy of both positive and negative qualities of oneself and others into a cohesive whole. The editing of the color scheme stresses the importance of this scene (SparkNotes Editors).
Likewise, there are other elements that contribute to this scene. For example, the camera shot is supposed to give the audience a point of view shot from the perspective of Oskar Schindler (Cardullo, 127). As the girl in the red walks through the streets of the ghetto, Oskar’s eyes follow her wherever she goes. The point of view shot ends once the girl goes into one of the buildings and hides under a bed. Another element is the music that's simultaneously playing in the background with the diegetic sound. The director uses a non-diegetic sound technique, which begins when we first see the girl. The diegetic sound is coming from all the chaos the SS is causing while they’re shooting and taunting the Jews. What the audience can hear that the characters in the film can't is the soft music, most likely a Hebrew song. The irony of the time and place of the song is that such a soft song is played in all that chaos. It’s clear that these different elements generate an implicit meaning in this scene. This seen has little to no dialogue so it would be difficult to identify explicit meaning. Clearly, this scene implies that Oskar Schindler finally realizes the Nazi Party is treating Jews inhumanly. In prior scenes, it’s clear that Schindler is not aware of the unethical acts the party commits. It’s not until after the liquidation where he understands what is really occurring. Throughout the film, you see Oskar’s character shift from a man who only cares about money to a man who is willing to do anything in his power to save as many people as possible.
Undoubtedly, the film’s trying to relay a message to its audience. To Steven Spielberg, who’s Jewish, directing this film meant significantly more than breaking records at the box office. He made ‘Schindler’s List’ to inform us of the Holocaust during World War II and how poorly Jewish families were treated. Today, people discuss these events such as the Holocaust and similar events to prevent history from repeating itself. The film visually teaches us about the Holocaust as no other film has done before. To add, this scene visualizes the innocence of the Jews. The young girl in the red coat symbolizes just that. Later on in the film, while Oskar Schindler talks to a German Commandant, he sees the young girl again dead in a wheel-barrel, the coat still bearing the color red. Most likely, she was executed during liquidation at Krakow. Oscar seeing her dead body is a strong representation of no matter how innocent, they all had the same fate. At the same time, the film also teaches us about the good Samaritan, Oskar Schindler. It shows us that in a time of darkness, there is light and not all is bad. Oskar Schindler saved generations by employing hundreds of Jews at his factory, laying everything on the line for them.
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