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Mrs. Dresner
Three-year-old Genia is Juda and Mrs. Dresner’s niece and Danka and Janek Dresner’s cousin. She is originally from the country but comes to live with her aunt and uncle, and they pass her off as their real child. She is called “Red” or “Redcap” because she likes to wear red. Though very young, she makes an amazing escape from the SS on Krakusa Street by hiding in plain sight. Later, however, Oskar Schindler and Ingrid see a little girl in all red being lined up during an Aktion in the ghetto, implying that Genia didn’t survive. She became the inspiration for the famous scene of the girl in the red coat in the film adaptation of Schindler’s List.
Genia Quotes in Schindler’s List
The Schindler’s List quotes below are all either spoken by Genia or refer to Genia . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 15 Quotes
His eyes slewed up Krakusa to the scarlet child. They were doing it within half a block of her; they hadn’t waited for her column to turn out of sight into Józefińska. Schindler could not have explained at first how that compounded the murders on the sidewalk. Yet somehow it proved, in a way no one could ignore, their serious intent. While the scarlet child stopped in her column and turned to watch, they shot the woman in the neck, and one of them, when the boy slid down the wall whimpering, jammed a boot down on his head as if to hold it still and put the barrel against the back of the neck—the recommended SS stance—and fired.
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Get the entire Schindler’s List LitChart as a printable PDF.
Genia Character Timeline in Schindler’s List
The timeline below shows where the character Genia appears in Schindler’s List. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 12
...before being put on a train, disappearing into a crowd of Polish people. The girl, Genia, is nicknamed “Redcap” because she likes to wear red. When one of the Dresner children...
(full context)
Chapter 15
...At the back of the line is a toddler with a red hat and coat (Genia). Ingrid says it must be a girl. The guards continue to lead the line of...
(full context)
...up Jewish people. At one point, children are lined up there on Krakusa Street, with Genia among them. By moving confidently and not attracting attention, however, the three-year-old girl manages to...
(full context)
Chapter 16
At his factory, Schindler feels certain that the girl in red he saw (Genia) didn’t survive the Aktion. He begins paying attention to who the perpetrators of these atrocities...
(full context)
Danka Dresner, cousin of “Redcap” Genia, is 14. She works as a cleaning woman at a Luftwaffe base, but she is...
(full context)
Chapter 31
...as an opportunity to take bribes, including one from Juda Dresner, the uncle of “red Genia” and husband of Mrs. Dresner (who hadn’t been allowed to hide in the wall).
(full context)
