Coming Home Soon

In each breath, they are with us. Indelible parts of the whole. Each of them has a story.
Open their book.

Coming Home Soon is an initiative focused on illuminating the dire situation of each hostage through personal stories and messages from around the world.
The interactive installation features 240 books, each representing a hostage: the missing, the freed, and those tragically murdered. Visitors are invited to write their own messages, read other messages of hope and support, or simply meander through the rows of brightly-covered books, each featuring a photo of a hostage on the cover.

In addition to the live installation, the initiative also includes www.cominghomesoon.online, featuring each book. The books are complemented with artist renderings of each hostage, along with the opportunity to send a digital message.

The initiative is the brainchild of a group of Israeli and Jewish women in the Netherlands, joined together by an unwavering determination to raise awareness of the abductees, honor their individuality, and offer a platform to create a personal connection. Ultimately, the books will be sent to the freed hostage or the hostages’ families as a show of solidarity and an offer of comfort. Coming Home Soon is apolitical and endeavors to remind people that each hostage, whether Jewish, Muslim, or Christian, is a human being, and each human being has a story.

"Coming Home Soon is a big success in the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam. It concentrates on the individual lives of all hostages, of all nationalities and religious backgrounds, and offers a beautiful opportunity to all our visitors to express their support for their families. It is easily installed, and I warmly recommend it to all museum colleagues."  - Prof. Dr. Emile Schrijver, Director of the Jewish Museum Amsterdam