Date: July 14, 2026Author: Sneha Jaiswal
‘We’ll Soon Be Home Again’ by Jessica Bab Bonde and Peter Bergting is a collection of illustrated short stories about holocaust survivors, particularly those who were still children when they were sent to Nazi concentration camps
There are six stories in total, and they’re all told through first-person-accounts, and the narrators were all children when they were persecuted by the Nazis. They recall being forced to abandon their homes, businesses, and facing discrimination in their daily lives, before finally being packed off to camps, where they’d be reduced to the numbers, facing starvation, and several indignities
I actually read the original German version titled Bald Sind Wir Wieder Zu Hause, which of course means ‘We’ll Soon Be Home Again’. And since I am still learning the language, perhaps some of the nuances were lost on me, because there were times when I’d have to look up the dictionary to understand a phrase or expression
But regardless of my shaky grasp of German, one thing became clear: these accounts are simply too brief. They often read more like summaries of much longer memoirs than complete stories in their own right. Perhaps the creators would’ve been better off focusing on just three or four survivors and exploring their lives in greater depth
After a while, the stories in ‘We’ll Soon Be Home Again’ begin to follow a familiar pattern: we were children who didn’t understand why we were being persecuted for being Jewish, we were sent to a concentration camp, we endured starvation and unimaginable suffering, and somehow survived. But who were these children before their lives were torn apart? What games did they play? Who were their friends? What made them laugh? What kept them going in the camps? Who comforted them in their darkest moments? The book rarely pauses to answer those questions. As a result, the children often come across not as distinct individuals with unique personalities, but simply as victims first and survivors second.
That said, ‘We’ll Soon Be Home Again’ would still make for a powerful introduction to Holocaust history for younger readers. I’d especially recommend it to those between the ages of 12 and 15, as it serves as an accessible starting point before moving on to more detailed survivor memoirs
We’ll Soon Be Home Again is also on Kindle Unlimited
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