UTVIKA, Norway – Survivors of an attack that claimed the lives of 69 people in Norway last month carried flowers to the site of the killings Saturday, laughter blending with tears as they remembered the joys of an island youth camp that turned into a scene of horror.
Stine Renate Haaheim, who survived the shooting spree on Utoya island, said her feelings ranged from emptiness and extreme grief to joy when she returned to the place she had visited each summer for more than 10 years before the horrific events on July 22.
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“There was an extreme mix of feelings because it was very difficult and we are still in grief, but at the same time I was looking forward to seeing Utoya. I was hoping that in some kind of way it will still be the same island as it used to be,” Haaheim, 27, said after returning from the island.
The hardest part, she said, was seeing the places where her friends died.
“We started going around to all the places where our friends were killed and just taking a minute of silence and trying to remember all the good times we had with them and that was extremely hard, I think it’s not possible to explain the feelings,” Haaheim said, fighting back tears.
On returning from the island, Norway’s criminal police chief said it was “filled with flowers, candles, pictures, poems.”
Many lit candles and laid handwritten notes in memory of their friends at the sites where they were shot during the summer camp organized by the youth wing of Norway’s Labor Party.
Eskil Pedersen, the leader of the party’s youth organization, said his visit to the island with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and several hundred youth politicians had been “heavy, but fine.”
“It was incredibly good to see them (the survivors) smiling again on Utoya,” Pedersen told reporters.
Up to 1,000 survivors and relatives were expected on Utoya, accompanied by police and medical staff, to face the painful memories of the shooting spree by a right-wing extremist.
Stoltenberg — the leader of the Norwegian Labor Party — said he had wanted to visit “to take part in their mourning and be there for them.”
Anders Behring Breivik has admitted killing 77 people July 22 when he detonated a truck bomb outside government offices in the capital, Oslo, and then went on a meticulously planned shooting spree on the island, about 25 miles away.
Breivik denies criminal guilt because he believes the massacre was necessary to save Norway and Europe. He said the attacks were an attempt at cultural revolution, aimed at purging Europe of Muslims and punishing politicians who have embraced multiculturalism.
Haaheim, who escaped Breivik’s bullets by hiding near the shore and swimming to a boat, on Saturday revisited the places where she had been on the day of the attack.
“I met up with the boys I was with, we walked together where we ran last time, and we tried to remember what it was like and what we said to each other,” she said. “We spoke about what we had been doing — we actually told some jokes when we were hiding, because we were afraid of people panicking.”
Haaheim — a Labor Party lawmaker — said she remembers feelings of fear, chaos and being out of control extremely well, but sometimes feels like she is just describing a “crazy movie.”
But, despite the sadness and grief, she said she doesn’t feel any hatred.
“We have met bullets with flowers and showed that love is much stronger than hate, and speaking for myself, revenge is not in my thoughts,” Haaheim said. “I want to use my thoughts and my efforts on loving those who are still alive and remembering those who are not with us anymore.”
On Friday, the Oslo District Court extended Breivik’s isolation detention by another four weeks, saying it still does not know if he acted alone.
Police said they wanted to keep Breivik in isolation because they didn’t want him to talk to other inmates, although they still believe he planned and committed the attacks on his own.
Media were not allowed access to the heavily guarded island where Breivik spent 90 minutes executing the 69 people. Many of the victims were shot in the water as they tried to escape by swimming.
Per Brekke, logistics chief of the operation that included 400 health care workers, police and other officials, said planning the visits had been a big challenge.
“But, of course, the challenge for each individual to re-enter the island is much bigger,” he said.
Today, a national memorial service will be held at Oslo Spektrum arena, marking the end of a month of mourning.
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