GEN: Schindlers List

[Elizabeth Letterly <eletterl@wideload.abelink.com>]

Awhile back when Schindlers List was on tv, there was some discussion about
the significance of the little girl in the red coat.  Two nights ago our
local PBS station ran a two-hour documentary on the trial of Adolph
Eichmann.  A lot of it was original film footage and interviews with
participants in the trial -- one was an Israeli prosecutor, who at the time
was very young.  Part of the trial strategy was to use the testimony of
Auchwitz survivors.  One was a man who lost his family, including his little
girl with a red coat.  He testified that he could see her because of that
bright coat  in another line across the camp when they arrived and were
divided.  He never saw her or his son or his wife again. The prosecutor was
visibly shaken, enough that he couldn't talk for about a minute.  The show
cut to him today and he said that two weeks before this testimony he had
bought his own little girl a red coat and that this man's words were like a
knife -- showing him clearly why Eichmann and all other Nazi criminals must
be hunted and prosecuted and why these survivors' stories must be told and
archived and remain a part of human history.  That it could have been
anyone's little girl.

I had never seen this mentioned anywhere and wondered if this was what
prompted Spielberg's powerful use of color, especially that little girl in
the coat.
Elizabeth Letterly, District Librarian
eletterl@abelink.com            eletterl@roe51.k12.il.us
Williamsville CUSD #15, Williamsville, IL  USA  62693

Life itself is the proper binge. -- Julia Child
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