Anders Behring Breivik

Anders Behring Breivik, born on 13 February 1979 in Oslo, is a Norwegian mass murderer, neo-Nazi, and domestic terrorist responsible for the 2011 Norway attacks. He believed in the Great Replacement theory and aimed to fight what he called "Cultural Marxism." His attacks began with a car bomb at the Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter in Oslo, followed by a mass shooting at a Labour Party youth summer camp on Utøya island. In total, 77 people were killed and over 323 injured. Breivik financed the attacks with about €130,000 from credit cards. On the day of the attacks, he distributed a compendium titled *2083: A European Declaration of Independence*, which outlined his ideology: opposing Islam, blaming feminism for a perceived European "cultural suicide," and calling for the deportation of Muslims from Europe. He stated that publicising this text was a primary motive.

Breivik was found competent to stand trial, convicted in 2012 on all charges, and given the maximum civilian penalty of 21 years' imprisonment under preventive detention, which can be extended indefinitely if he remains a danger. Before the trial, two forensic psychiatry teams evaluated him. The first diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, but the second concluded he was not psychotic during the attacks, instead diagnosing narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Since his conviction, Breivik has filed multiple legal challenges against the Norwegian Correctional Service under the European Convention on Human Rights, citing conditions of confinement. A partial ruling in his favour in 2016 was overturned on appeal, and later challenges—including a 2024 case about prison isolation—were unsuccessful.

Breivik’s early life was marked by instability. His parents, Jens Breivik (a civil economist and diplomat) and Wenche Elisabeth Behring (a nursing assistant), divorced when he was one year old. He has a maternal half-sister and three paternal half-siblings. At age four, living in Oslo’s Frogner borough, two reports flagged concerns about his mental health. One psychologist noted his peculiar smile, suggesting it was a deliberate response rather than emotional. Another report from Norway’s National Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (SSBU) raised alarms about his mother’s treatment of him: she allegedly sexualised him, hit him, and frequently said she wished he were dead. The report described Wenche Behring as a woman with a difficult upbringing, borderline personality disorder, and depression who projected her aggressive and sexual fantasies onto Breivik. It recommended he be forcibly removed and placed in foster care due to her emotional and psychological abuse, but the Child Welfare Service did not act.

Breivik’s mother had fled her own abusive home at 17 and became a teenage mother. In her thirties, she became pregnant with Anders and married Jens Breivik, moving to London for his work. Even before his birth, she developed disdain for him, claiming he was a "nasty child" who kicked her on purpose. She wanted an abortion but passed the three-month threshold. Psychologists later stated she thought Breivik was fundamentally nasty and evil, determined to destroy her. She stopped breastfeeding early because he was "sucking the life out of her." After the divorce, she moved back to Oslo with Breivik, borrowing Jens’s apartment. Neighbours reported fights and that she left her children alone for long periods while working as a nurse. In 1981, she applied for welfare benefits; in 1982, she sought respite care, saying she was overwhelmed and unable to care for Breivik, describing him as clingy and demanding. He was placed with a young couple through the Child Welfare Service. The couple later told police that Breivik’s mother, when dropping him off, asked that he be allowed to touch the man’s penis because he had only seen girls’ parts. In February 1983, following neighbours’ advice, she sought help from the SSBU; Breivik and his mother were outpatients for about a month. The psychiatrists concluded he should be placed in foster care, noting that, contrary to his mother’s description of a highly demanding child, Breivik showed little emotional engagement, no joy, and did not cry.

At age 16, Breivik was arrested for graffiti vandalism in Oslo. He later joined the anti-immigration Progress Party, chaired its Vest Oslo youth branch in 2002, and left in 2006. He joined a gun club in 2005. A company he founded went bankrupt, and he reported no income in 2009. In 2017, it was reported he changed his legal name to Fjotolf Hansen.