rob_s
07-15-2019, 08:42 AM
My family and I were recently in Norway, and spent a couple of days in Oslo. When Planning our walk for the first day, I was looking around on Google Maps (https://goo.gl/maps/wVxin3Zx5iACLJT8A) and stumble on the "Temporary" memorial for the 22 July Terrorist Attacks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks). We decided to stop by, thinking that it was just a simple monument. Once we arrived, we saw the monument, saw the usual eastern tourists that seem to think it's cool to pose for photos with such things, and were about to leave the area when my wife noticed an open door and walked in. It turns out we had accidentally found one of the most impactful stops on our trip.
There is an entire museum, in the remnants of the building where the bomb went off. We were greeted by a young Norwegian girl who spoke flawless English, who proceeded to spend about 15 minutes explaining the events, the layout of the museum, the impact they may have on us, etc. She also informed us that this particular museum is closing as they are actually starting permanent repairs to the building, although it appears that any sort of permanent memorial may be encountering various forms of resistance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks#National_memorial_at_S%C3%B8rb r%C3%A5ten,_in_limbo). The debate is interesting as one of the points of view is that having a memorial would be, in fact, a memorial to "the terrorist" (as they call him). There is only one photo of The Terrorist in the entire museum that I saw, and it was on the fake ID that he wore during the attacks as part of his home-made policeman's uniform. It also appears that more than one family has refused to have the name of their relative on any such memorial.
As part of the tour, you literally stand where the truck was parked and see the bent rebar and shattered concrete. There is a memorial room with pictures of the victims (when they were alive, not corpses), a video showing the perpetrator parking the truck, a timeline showing all of the events of the day, and more. We were there with our two daughters 11 and 8 so we glossed over some portions of the museum, but it was stunning nonetheless.
there are also monuments in every "county" in Oslo memorializing the attack as every county in the country lost at least one person. My wife saw two of them but said she felt it would be wrong to photograph them.
I knew a little about the events of the day, perhaps more than some others as my mother in law was born in Norway and my wife has studied there, and they still have extensive family in the area (hence our visit this summer), but there were aspects that I did not know. Specifically, some things that I didn't know
His bomb, in Oslo, was not just a distraction technique (although it worked well in that role, apparently but also an attempted attack in the Prime Minister
The shooter used a Ruger Mini 14 and a Glock 19
The camp that he attacked was a "labor party" summer camp and he wasn't just making a statement but also attempting to kill off potential future leftist politicians by killing those children
there are two movies about the attack, both released in 2018, one in English and one in Norwegian
there was particular shock within Norway that The Terrorist was not only Norwegian but "native Norwegian", as opposed to an immigrant who had gained citizenship, or even the son of an immigrant
He was sentenced to 21 years, the max allowed, but in Norway sentences can be extended indefinitely if the person is still deemed a threat
the Norwegian police response was as disorganized as much of the 9/11 response in the US due to bad communication channels, etc.
I'm not sure on the timeline for the closing of the museum, but if you find yourself in Oslo, go.
There is an entire museum, in the remnants of the building where the bomb went off. We were greeted by a young Norwegian girl who spoke flawless English, who proceeded to spend about 15 minutes explaining the events, the layout of the museum, the impact they may have on us, etc. She also informed us that this particular museum is closing as they are actually starting permanent repairs to the building, although it appears that any sort of permanent memorial may be encountering various forms of resistance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks#National_memorial_at_S%C3%B8rb r%C3%A5ten,_in_limbo). The debate is interesting as one of the points of view is that having a memorial would be, in fact, a memorial to "the terrorist" (as they call him). There is only one photo of The Terrorist in the entire museum that I saw, and it was on the fake ID that he wore during the attacks as part of his home-made policeman's uniform. It also appears that more than one family has refused to have the name of their relative on any such memorial.
As part of the tour, you literally stand where the truck was parked and see the bent rebar and shattered concrete. There is a memorial room with pictures of the victims (when they were alive, not corpses), a video showing the perpetrator parking the truck, a timeline showing all of the events of the day, and more. We were there with our two daughters 11 and 8 so we glossed over some portions of the museum, but it was stunning nonetheless.
there are also monuments in every "county" in Oslo memorializing the attack as every county in the country lost at least one person. My wife saw two of them but said she felt it would be wrong to photograph them.
I knew a little about the events of the day, perhaps more than some others as my mother in law was born in Norway and my wife has studied there, and they still have extensive family in the area (hence our visit this summer), but there were aspects that I did not know. Specifically, some things that I didn't know
His bomb, in Oslo, was not just a distraction technique (although it worked well in that role, apparently but also an attempted attack in the Prime Minister
The shooter used a Ruger Mini 14 and a Glock 19
The camp that he attacked was a "labor party" summer camp and he wasn't just making a statement but also attempting to kill off potential future leftist politicians by killing those children
there are two movies about the attack, both released in 2018, one in English and one in Norwegian
there was particular shock within Norway that The Terrorist was not only Norwegian but "native Norwegian", as opposed to an immigrant who had gained citizenship, or even the son of an immigrant
He was sentenced to 21 years, the max allowed, but in Norway sentences can be extended indefinitely if the person is still deemed a threat
the Norwegian police response was as disorganized as much of the 9/11 response in the US due to bad communication channels, etc.
I'm not sure on the timeline for the closing of the museum, but if you find yourself in Oslo, go.