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Witnesses accounts as texts and other materials
My Story – Personal accounts from and about 22 July

Witnesses' accounts as texts and other materials

Black and white photo of notes with text on and pens lying on a table.
Teaching program in the 22 July centre
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Related topics

  • To live on
  • Memory culture
Drawing of a destroyed building in red colors

Pål

Pål had an office located vis-avis the bomb truck in the R4 Government Building. In this letter, written on 26 July 2011, he tells friends and acquaintances that he is safe. The letter is reproduced here with permission from Pål.
Four arms on a yellow background. Three of the arms have the text Love in red and one has the same word in green. Illustration

Lisbeth

Lisbeth lost her daughter Synne on Utøya on 22 July 2011. This text is an excerpt from a radio script (03.07.2016), which Lisbeth shared with the 22 July Centre.
Drawing: Landscape with vegetation, trees in autumn colors, and a white house with a red roof in the middle. In the foreground we see the water's edge.

Natia

Natia was on Utøya as an international guest from Georgia on 22 July 2011. This text was printed in the newspaper Morgenbladet on 28 July 2017 and is reproduced with permission from the author.
Green colored background that goes from light to dark. Glass ball with a brown bottom and glass ball with a gold sign with the text: "Norway". On the inside of the ball you can see a gray mountain, grass, water and a red house.

Synnøve

When Synnøve was 16, she wrote this poem about the terror attack on Utøya. Her brother survived the attack.
Drawing. Young person looks down at the floor. Above the person's head are small illustrations of people and weapons floating around.

Nille

Nille was at work in the Y-block and survived the bomb in the Government Quarter. In this text, she talks about life after 22 July – about getting PTSD, and getting well again.
Drawing: A person gives a hug to a shadow that blends in with the background. The shadow and background are yellow. The person is dressed in grey-white clothes.

Stian

Stian was 17 in 2011, and one of those who survived the attack on Utøya. In August 2011, Stian's witness account was written by journalist Hege Holm, in connection with a book project.
Reddish color on the ground, greenish-gray background color, tree with patches in different colors

Tonje S.

Tonje was 19 in 2011, and survived the terror on Utøya. Tonje wrote this text in 2016, as part of a bachelor's thesis about the teacher's role in dealing with traumatized students.
Drawning: landscape with water and an island with trees. White clouds are seen in the sky.

Kine

Kine's son was 8 years old when he witnessed the terror on Utøya while on holiday with his grandparents at Utvika camping. In this poem, Kine describes her son's experiences on 22 July 2011, and her own, as she was the one who lost a child.
Gathering of people holding a rose in the air. Some hold placards inscribed "UTØYA" and "OSL"

Steinar

Steinar Barstad worked at the Ministry of Health and Care. On 22 July, he left his office in the S block, and walked across Einar Gerhardsen's place a few minutes before the bomb went off. A few weeks later, he wrote the poem "The Year of the Rose", as part of his work on processing grief and anger.
Drawing of an angel raising his arms. Blue background.

Steven

Steven Wiee is from Stavanger. He joined AUF in 2008 and participated in the summer camp on Utøya in 2011 for the first time. He was then 18 years old. He was very much looking forward to the summer idyll and politics on the island. But it ended up being a nightmare. He is currently a stand-up comedian and will finish his nursing education in a few years.
Screenshot of a Twitter message created by Mona@Frk_Mona, 3 Aug. 2020. The screenshot has the following text: "This is Henrik. My little brother. Henrik only lived to be 27 years old before he was killed. In this thread, I want you to get to know Henrik." The screenshot also has a portrait of a young person. Under the portrait, there is information about the number of comments (12), shares (95) and likes (1.6k).

Mona

On 22 July, Henrik was killed on Utøya, and Mona had to live on without her little brother. Through a Twitter thread that she opened on 3 August 2020, we get to know Henrik André Pedersen. The thread is reproduced here in its entirety, by agreement with Mona Johannessen.
Illustration of an island with the inscription "Map of Utøya". Several buildings and forest are visible on the island.

Ida

Ida was 25 when she survived the attack at AUF's summer camp at Utøya in 2011. Here, she tells her story to participants in Democracy teaching at Utøya, together with Lill-Hege and Oddvar who she met that day in 2011.
Published Nov 5, 2022 Last updated Nov 29, 2022
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