2011 Norway Attacks Part II

 

Mental health

Following his arrest, Breivik underwent examination by court-appointed forensic psychiatrists, who diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and concluded he had been psychotic at the time of the attacks and was criminally insane. Although criticized in newspaper debates, the submitted report was approved with no remarks by the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine after an extended panel of experts had reviewed it.

According to his defense attorney, Breivik initially expressed surprise and felt insulted by the conclusions in the report. He later stated that "this provides new opportunities". Following the criticism of the psychiatric report, the court in January 2012 approved the conduct of a second psychiatric examination. The report from this examination declared Breivik to be sane in April 2012. Ultimately, the verdict and ruling of the district court's five-judge panel agreed that Breivik was sane.

Political and religious views

Breivik is linked to a 1,518-page compendium entitled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence bearing the name "Andrew Berwick". The file was e-mailed to 1,003 addresses about 90 minutes before the bomb blast in Oslo. Analysts described him as having Islamophobic views and a hatred of Islam, and as someone who considered himself as a knight dedicated to stemming Muslim immigration into Europe.

The introductory chapter of the manifesto defining cultural Marxism is a copy of Political Correctness: A Short History of an Ideology by the Free Congress Foundation. Major parts of the compendium are attributed to the pseudonymous Norwegian blogger Fjordman. The text has multiple word-for-word similarities with the Unabomber manifesto, only substituting terms like "cultural Marxists" for Ted Kaczynski's "leftists" and, in a section criticizing affirmative action, "Muslims" for "black people". The New York Times described American influences in the writings, noting that the compendium mentions the anti-Muslim American Robert Spencer 64 times and cites Spencer's works at great length. The work of Bat Ye’or is cited dozens of times. Far-right and anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller, Neo-pagan writer Koenraad Elst and Daniel Pipes are also mentioned as sources of inspiration. The manifesto further contains quotes from Middle East expert Bernard Lewis, Edmund Burke, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson and George Orwell, as well as from Jeremy Clarkson's Sunday Times column and Melanie Phillips' Daily Mail column. The publication speaks in admiration of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bruce Bawer, Srđa Trifković, and Henryk M. Broder. The compendium advocates a restoration of patriarchy, which it claims would save European culture.

The compendium contains his militant far-right ideology and xenophobic worldview, which espouses an array of political concepts; including support for varying degrees of cultural conservatism, right-wing populism, ultranationalism, Islamophobia, far-right Zionism, and Serbian paramilitarism. It regards Islam and "cultural Marxism" as the enemy and argues for the annihilation of "Eurabia" and multiculturalism, to preserve a Christian Europe. He further urged Europeans to restore the historic crusades against Islam as in the Middle Ages. A video Breivik released on YouTube 6 hours before the attack has been described as promoting violence towards leftists and Muslims who reside in Western Europe.

Among other things, in the manifesto he identified the Beneš Decrees, which facilitated the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, as an example for committing that act on European Muslims. In his manifesto he also urges the Hindus to drive Muslims out of India. He demands the gradual deportation of all Muslims from Europe from 2011 to 2083 through repatriation. He blames feminism for allowing the erosion of the fabric of European society.

Breivik's writings mention the English Defence League, claiming that he had contact with senior members of the EDL, and that a Norwegian version of the group was 'in the process of gaining strength'. He wrote that the EDL were 'naïve fools' because in his words the EDL 'harshly condemns any and all revolutionary conservative movements that employ terror as a tool'. EDL leader Tommy Robinson denounced Breivik and the attack on 26 July 2011 and denied any links with the Norwegian.

After being apprehended, Breivik was characterised by police officials as being a right-wing extremist. Breivik is described by the newspaper Verdens Gang as considering himself a conservative nationalist. According to The Australian, Breivik was highly critical of Muslim immigration into Christian societies, is pro-Israel and an admirer of the Tea Party movement in the United States. Deputy police Chief Roger Andresen initially told reporters that "We have no more information than ... what has been found on [his] own websites, which is that it goes towards the right and that it is, so to speak, Christian fundamentalist." Subsequently, others have disputed Andresen's characterization of Breivik as a Christian fundamentalist. Furthermore, Breivik stated that "myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God." According to the International Business Times, in his manifesto, he "did not see himself as religious", but he did identify as a cultural Christian and wrote about the differences between cultural and religious Christians, but stressed that both were Christians, and shared the same identity and goals. After his imprisonment, Breivik stated he had never personally identified as a Christian, and called his religion Odinism, stating that he would "pray and sacrifice" to Odin. He also identified himself as a fascist and a national socialist, stating that he previously exploited counter-jihadist rhetoric in order to protect "ethno-nationalists".

He has written many posts on the far-right website document.no. He attended meetings of "Documents venner" (Friends of Document), affiliated with the Document.no website He is a former member of the Progress Party (FrP) and its youth wing FpU. According to the then FpU leader Ove Vanebo, Breivik was active early in the 2000s, but he left the party as his viewpoints became more extreme.

In his online YouTube video, he expressed admiration of past European leaders who fought against Islam and Muslims, naming Charles Martel, Richard the Lionheart, El Cid, Vlad the Impaler, Jacques de Molay, Tsar Nicholas, and John III Sobieski. A social media website created bearing Breivik's name and picture but of unknown authorship refers to him as an admirer of Winston Churchill and Max Manus, and also of controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whose political party, the Party for Freedom, is described by the site as "the only true party of conservatives". The music that is played in the video comes off the soundtrack to the video game Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.

Unsubstantiated claims of Breivik being assisted

There was suspicion at the time of the attack that there were accomplices, and the police initially prepared to meet two to five shooters on Utøya. Several youths at Utøya reported to be convinced that there was more than one shooter, with some reports of shots fired from the mainland. A second shooter at Utøya was described by several youths as having thick dark hair, about 1.80 meters (5 feet 11 inches) tall who did not wear a police uniform, while carrying a pistol and a rifle. During judicial examination, at least two witnesses independently of each other both described two different shooters at Utøya, while a third witness was reported to have swum from the island beside a previously unknown dark-haired man. After his arrest Breivik claimed he acted with accomplices, but later changed his statements to his acting alone, giving several demands for him to tell about accomplices. On 24 July 2011, six people were arrested in Oslo suspected of having connections with the attacks; all were released. The police later issued a statement that there was only found evidence of one shooter at Utøya, amid "widespread conspiracy theories" of their having been more than one shooter.

In the initial hours after the attacks, the group Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami ("Helpers of the Global Jihad") led by Abu Suleiman al-Naser claimed responsibility for the attacks. Both during his trial and in his manifesto, Breivik stated to have been inspired by jihadist groups, and stated his willingness to work together with jihadist groups in order to conduct attacks with weapons of mass destruction against Western targets.

Reactions

Flower March in Sentrum, Oslo, on 25 July 2011 in the aftermath of the attacks. An estimated 200,000 attended the flower march.

Domestic

King Harald V sent his condolences to the victims and their families, and urged unity. He and Queen Sonja personally visited the victims of the attacks, as well as the families of those killed.

At a press conference the morning after the attacks, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Justice Minister Knut Storberget addressed the country. Stoltenberg called the attack a "national tragedy" and the worst atrocity in Norway since World War II. Stoltenberg further vowed that the attack would not hurt Norwegian democracy, and said the proper answer to the violence was "more democracy, more openness, but not naivety". In his speech at the memorial service on 24 July 2011, he opined what would be a proper reaction: "No one has said it better than the AUF girl who was interviewed by CNN: 'If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we could show, standing together.'"

The leader of the Workers' Youth League, Eskil Pedersen, vowed to "return to Utøya" and urged Norway to continue its tradition of openness and tolerance.

Leaders of Norwegian political parties expressed grief and sent condolences in public statements.

On 1 August 2011, Norway's parliament, nominally in recess for the summer, reconvened for an extraordinary session to honour the victims of the attack. In a departure from parliamentary procedure, both King Harald V and Crown Prince Haakon were present. The president of Norway's Parliament, Dag Terje Andersen, read out loud the names of all 77 victims. The session was open to the public, but due to limited seating, priority was given to relatives of the deceased. August 21 in Norway was declared a day of national mourning to commemorate the victims of the terrorist attack.

The seven political parties in the parliament agreed to postpone the electoral campaign for local elections, held in September, until mid-August. School debates were canceled, though the school elections were not.

Initially, Magnus Ranstorp and other terror experts suspected that foreigners were behind the attacks. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, non-ethnic Norwegians, especially Muslim Norwegians, were subjected to harassment and violence.

On 13 August 2012, Norway's prime minister received the Gjørv Report, which concludes that Breivik could have been stopped from carrying out the Utøya massacre. (The report had been ordered by parliament, in August 2011.)

International

The United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and governments around the world expressed their condemnation of the attacks, condolences, and solidarity with Norway. However, there have also been reports of Western European right-wing populist politicians giving support to the killings or excusing them as a result of multi-culturalism. Interviewed on a popular radio show, the Italian MEP Francesco Speroni, a leading member of the Lega Nord, the junior partner in Berlusconi's conservative coalition, said: "Breivik's ideas are in defence of western civilization." Similar views were voiced by Italian MEP Mario Borghezio. Werner Koenigshofer, a member of the National Council of Austria, was expelled from the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria after equating the massacre with the death of millions of fetuses through abortion.

On 25 July 2011, at noon (CEST), each of the Nordic countries held a minute of silence to dignify the victims of the two attacks. Norway's minute of silence stretched to five minutes. In Oslo, a city of approximately 600,000 inhabitants, an estimated 200,000 people attended a "flower march".

The Norwegian media reported criticism against Fox News and its commentator Glenn Beck for their coverage of the attacks. Beck's comparison of the AUF to the Hitler Youth led Frank Aarebrot, a Norwegian professor with political sympathies to the Norwegian Labour Party, to call Beck a "fascist" and "swine".

Memorial ceremonies

A number of memorial ceremonies took place following the attacks. On 25 July 2011, around 200,000 people took part in a "rose march" at Rådhusplassen in Oslo. The NRK memorial concert titled "Mitt lille land" ("My Little Country") and named for the song "Mitt lille land" which "came to symbolize the sorrow many people went through", took place in Oslo Cathedral on 30 July 2011. A national memorial ceremony took place on 21 August 2011. In September 2011, the Norwegian People's Aid and Sony Music released the memorial album Mitt Lille land.

Memorials

National memorials

A national memorial stands at Johan Nygaardsvolds plass at Regjeringskvartalet in Oslo. It was unveiled on 22 July 2016, and is temporary. In 2024, 10 designs (each from a candidate) were presented to the public; in the future, one of the candidate's designs will be chosen for the permanent memorial; each candidate consists of 1-3 persons; the 10 candidates include 20 persons; the project does not have an end date.

National memorial at Utøya-kaia, Tyrifjorden

Construction on a national memorial at Utøya-kaia (on the shores of Tyrifjorden) in Hole, Buskerud, is ongoing as of 2022. The memorial is expected to be completed during the first half of 2022. Work started in 2020.

As of 7 December 2020 work is in progress; in January next year a court case is scheduled to continue; the lawsuit's aim is to block further construction.

In September 2020, an injunction from Ringerike District Court blocked further construction on the memorial; in November, a higher court removed the injunction; on 30 November a trial that was scheduled for two weeks, started in Ringerike District Court; in December it was discontinued until January.

Sixteen neighbors of the construction site are suing to have the work stopped; the litigants are claiming that the memorial will be a [constant] reminder about the terror [of the attack], and they expect that the influx of visitors also will be an added source of strain [on the health of litigants]. In December, one neighbour testified in court, that he rescued persons [who had been wounded by the terrorist], and added: "We are again and again reminded about what happened. I will not have the strength to look at the columns [a design element of the memorial]. I will only be able to see the face of the dead"; the witness testified about the continuous gunfire, and the dead and wounded youths, and the repeated shuttling of youths in his boat – from open water to the lake shore at Utøya-kaia, and the sight of the perpetrator at Lovers' Lane, and youths being shot and killed in front of his eyes, and having to leave a critically wounded boy in the lake when bullets were whizzing past his ears. The witness is still haunted by the image of the boy, and by the mangled bodies mauled by the bullets of the terrorist, and by his last trip around the island when only the dead were left and the noise had died down except for the sound and lights from unanswered mobile phones [left in the terrain by the victims of the attack]. Another person to testify in court was the current secretary general of AUF, himself a survivor of the attack; he testified that he does not understand the neighbors’ angst in regard to the memorial.

Later that month, in a newspaper article, a licensed psychologist (retired) said that 250 or 300 victims have been estimated to have been helped [, during the attack and immediately after,] by people belonging to the local community, and incomprehensibly many young people were killed, but without the help of these action-oriented and caring people [inhabitants of the local community] then the number would have been higher; who wants this memorial at Utøya-kaia? ... Or the rest of us who [merely] were informed through media [reports]? When the savior’s don't want the memorial so close to [their community or] themselves, then it shows an extreme lack of empathy and valuation of the rescue work, in my opinion, when one [... triumphs through the construction of] the memorial; there are already enough memorials [for this attack] at other locations; furthermore if there must be a memorial in the area, then move it up to the main road, so that the local community [at Utøya-kaia] does not get destroyed by an influx of tourists and cars; up there [in the area of the main road] it's not that easy to make it into a place of worship of the mass-murderer.

The cost for a national memorial in Hole municipality has increased more than ten-fold, previously from 40.5 million Norwegian kroner—to more than 700 million. The artistic project has been rejected, and the project has been handed over to architects, as of October 2020.