(Music)
(Drumming)
After 22nd of July I just felt the need to do more.
Everything about my values before 22nd July just became stronger.
I think about it probably indirectly or directly once every hour in some way, because it’s
a part of me.
(Somber Music)
(Faster-paced Music)
When I heard the shooting I was on the middle of the island.
And then we heard something that sounded like – fireworks?
And we were walking towards the main harbour when I saw some of our boys just pointing,
like ‘just run, just run, just run.'
I hear Gunnar saying to another friend of mine, ‘that was a Glock'.
(Sounds of shots)
Boom, boom, you know.
And then, the following seconds are the longest seconds of my life I think.
Because I’m looking dead in the eye with one of my friends and some people with blood
in their face was running across the camp and said ‘he’s shooting us’.
And then of course all hell breaks loose.
I’m just concerned about my brother of course, you know, trying to make him feel safe.
(Shooting sounds)
This little boy in our delegation was only fifteen.
He started to swim and was like ‘we have to swim’.
And I felt that I can’t let you swim alone.
The true story is I just chose how I want to die.
Do I want to drown?
Do I want to get shot?
Just felt like less painful to drown.
That’s the truth.
I never thought I’d make it all the way.
But I swam 400 metres that day.
I did.
He could swim backwards too, so he could see Breivik.
I couldn’t see Breivik.
I could just hear him.
And he said ‘if I get shot you have to just continue swimming.’
And I was like – ‘why are you saying that?’
When I was ten metres in the water Breivik was right behind me and the reason why I survived
is because he was standing there and shooting the kids on the rocks.
So we had time to escape because he was killing someone else.
So we are running and get to this cliff area.
And me and my brother are the first ones to arrive there.
And we hear the shots coming closer and closer and closer.
It was a cliff like this – but me and my brother was there, and it was overhang – but
there again you can just stand there and shoot down in the cliff.
And he did.
And I don’t remember where I was hit the first time.
Or the second time.
But I remember being hit and falling down to the water, you know.
I was like lying in the water and then I saw my brother just one metre away and he was
like trying to get me – you know – he wanted me to come.
I stood up and kicked him down in the water.
I wanted him to go around the bay.
I stood up, got shot again.
The last shot was the one in the head.
I got hit five times in total.
Breivik felt that the multicultural society destroyed Norway and the Norwegian culture.
But culture is always changing and the Labour Party and Labour Youth always believe in that,
you know, culture is something people create together.
I understood that I was very badly injured and I understood that if I just rest now I
will die.
So I just lie there and talked and talked to the people.
– ‘Yeah, this is going to be all right.’
I don’t remember if it made any sense, what I said.
And then it slowly just morphed into like old pirate songs.
You know, like being a drunken sailor down there just singing and trying to, you know,
trying to not fade away.
The willingness to live was just so super-strong.
I felt that I couldn’t see in my eye, and then I just kind of went up and then I realized
that I was actually touching my brain.
And then I remember thinking – OK I should not touch my brain no more.
The minutes went.
The hours went – two hours in.
At one point the terrorist was coming around again and then someone in the cliff said ‘Shut
up Viljar’.
Norway has a great health system so everything about the health was well taken care of.
They were there and they followed you up.
It’s in these kinds of situations that you realise how good the welfare system in Norway
is.
It’s great.
For me I came pretty fast back to my daily life.
But you know sometimes I need to, you know, take a walk, or some things might be heavy
and I always had bosses and friends around me that just, you know, gave me the space.
They had to put me in a coma because I needed to be in a medical coma of course.
The next six days they did over 20 surgeries on me.
They rebuilt half my face – from here to here.
It’s like this plate there and there’s screws and stuff.
I’m the Deputy Mayor of Oslo.
I really, really believe in the freedom of speech and my job in this city – in Oslo
City – is to create the society where people, all the time, can be, you know, confronted
with differences.
So they are able to change themselves with the information they get.
And that’s what he wasn’t able to do.
So I’m not mad at him.
I pity him, I really do.
You know when the trial began, the Spring of 2012, I was there a lot and people were
like ‘why do you waste your time?’
I’m not there to give him attention.
I’m there because I’m a politician in Oslo.
It is my responsibility to learn what made him this way; how can I make sure that this
never happens again?
I’m 23 years old and I study law here in Tromso, my home town.
I’m honestly quite excited about being able to study and being able to have an exam.
I’m happy with it, actually.
For me the most important support was from my family, and my brother especially because
we shared this thing.
And you know, just talking about it, every single day.
Talking, talking, talking.
Being able to manage post-traumatic stress – you need to own it and control it.
It can’t control you, you need to control it.
I tried in the first year or so to do just exactly what I did before – ‘I will come
back to life and do the same things I used to do – this will not change me.
This will not…’
But you know it’s really about accepting that some things are changed.
Accept that I will probably not get an ‘A’ grade in any exam in my life.
I will probably not be able to work as long hours as I once thought I was going to do.
A week after I got elected as Deputy Mayor I was interviewed by one of the largest newspapers
in Norway.
I told them that I wouldn’t put Breivik in jail.
I said that I would let him work for the immigrants.- just to show him that multicultural society
is not a threat to him or anyone else.
Slowly but steady, rebuilding trust in society – and rebuilding myself, you know.
It it’s going to the theatre or if it’s being a part of the national day celebration
with all the people at one place.
All that kind of stuff that seems like regular stuff then, is not that now.
But then again, I will show up there anyway.
And I will be there and it will be better than last year.
And last year was better than the year before that.
And the year before that was terrible, but then again, I was there.
I should probably not play football.
I have a really bad arm.
Of course, I still have some bullet things in my head.
I shouldn’t play football.
It’s the wrong thing to do.
But then again, for me it’s a symbol of – you know- yes I probably shouldn’t,
but then again I will because it’s my life and I choose to do it.
It’s a natural part of being from where I am from, I think, to be in touch with nature.
I mean it doesn’t seem that way with my ankle socks now, but this is not Norwegian
cold, it’s just a bit windy.
It’s a perfect place for dating actually.
That’s my secret dating spot so you can’t tell anyone.
It’s actually true as well.
I really want to set a footprint of myself, to do something that’s going to stick.
My dream is to be able to make my environment, wherever that is, a better place for people.
You know it’s almost six years ago.
And a lot of people have already forgotten it.
For me it’s about the history and our responsibility on behalf of the history.
I bring people to Utoya because I believe this is an important place where something
horrible happened, but that horrible story is supposed to make us stronger on behalf
of our values.
We are still shocked by what has happened, but we will never give up our values.
Our response is more democracy, more openness, and more humanity.