(eerie music) - There was a pile of dead bodies, of friends who had been executed, a very surreal moment.

(ax chopping) The only place before where I'd seen piles of dead bodies was in movies from the Holocaust.

(ax chopping) In that pile was also a cell phone ringing.

And that moment really kind of sticks with me and haunts me because it was the first time I really connected that someone on the outside of the island who loved someone who was on the island was trying to reach them and they would never be able to respond again.

(dramatic music) (Anders speaking in foreign language) - The Norwegian response is more democracy (phone rings) more openness (people humming) and political participation.

(dramatic music continues) - [Narrator] In April, 2011, the Breivik Geofarm sets up business in a remote farm in Norway.

(suspenseful music) The company's owned by 32-year-old Anders Breivik.

On paper, the company grows vegetables, melons, carrots, and turnips.

In reality, it is a cover for manufacturing explosives from fertilizers and chemicals.

No one is aware Breivik poses a threat.

No one finds anything suspicious.

Norway has no reason to fear a terror attack.

The country has the highest standard of living in the world, and an extremely low crime rate.

Since World War II, the Social Democratic Labour Party has been the country's leading political party.

They advocate an open society and take a liberal approach to immigration, to Breivik this poses a threat.

He sees himself as a knight fighting against Islam and political parties that favor a multicultural society.

(dramatic music) (wind whooshes) (Lisbeth speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) - Our most important job was to treat him like any other criminal when it was very hard for us to do so, for the whole society to do so.

It would be easier to think of him as a monster or not human, but he is human.

A lot of people ask, of course, if Anders Behring Breivik will be free again.

Our system is like that.

We believe in people doing their punish, and if they're not a danger to society, they have their right and their place out in society again.

(tense music) (lively tense music) - So this room was our main meeting room, where we had meetings with the visiting prime ministers, presidents.

(phone rings) I worked two floors down from here on the 15th floor that the press department, and the prime minister's office was one floor down on the 16th floor.

So we had to run up and down a lot during a normal day at the office.

(mellow dramatic music) This is where he met President Obama when he came to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.

(Thomas speaking in foreign language) (mellow dramatic music continues) - It was my last day before I should start five weeks of summer holiday, we had to reply to a newspaper about a boat that the prime minister had received for his 50th birthday.

I went to the prime minister's residence, he was giving him an interview with one of our main newspapers.

We took photos of him in the rain with a large umbrella.

After that, I went back to the office.

I remember saying hi to the two ladies sitting at the entrance.

And then, I took the elevator up.

(mellow dramatic music continues) I sat in my office, writing on my computer.

(Thomas speaking in foreign language) (tense music) - I just remember the enormous pressure of air that actually exploded my window, threw me on the floor.

And, of course, I didn't realize what had happened.

I was thinking, wow, what was that?

Was it a bomb on the roof or something?

Because my office was on the 15th floor.

So I didn't imagine that something on the ground could affect us that hard.

(Thomas speaking in foreign language) (lively dramatic music) (zipper zips) (dramatic music) (upbeat music) (bomb explodes) - I remember thinking that I should be in shock now and I probably was, but it was another feeling than what I thought shock should be.

(tense music) I called the office of the prime minister in his residence.

(phone rings) He picks up the phone.

I think I asked him something like, "How are you?

Are you fine?"

He said, "No, I'm fine.

What happened?"

I told him something must have exploded.

Everything is broken here.

(tense music continues) Got a T-shirt to stop the bleeding.

And I went directly to the prime minister's residence.

We were there in a rather small room together.

We planned for him to go on both national TV channels.

I don't remember the exact time, but I remember when the first message came that something was happening at Utoya.

(gentle dramatic music) (Astrid speaking in foreign language) - So the island is a very small island really.

It takes about 10 minutes to walk around.

I usually describe it as being shaped a bit like a volcano.

It kind of has these edges, and then in the middle a crater, and the crater is kind of where the camping area was, around the edge there's woods and forest.

I went there really to see my friends.

This was my third time there.

So I kind of knew what was going on and the spirit of the place, like coming back home.

(tense music) (Astrid speaking in foreign language) - Oslo, in my mind, had always been a safe city.

Nothing dangerous really ever happens there.

In many ways, it's the most boring city in the world.

But then all of a sudden, having that feeling of safety ripped away by seeing that this was also a place that could be attacked was pretty surreal.

And so we were told that something had happened in Oslo.

We were told that it was probably safest to stay on the isle.

(Astrid speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music) (wind whooshing) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Anders Breivik Kills eight people in Oslo, in a bombing, immediately after placing the explosives, he takes a car and drives to Utoya Island, but the roads are busy and Breivik arrives much later than planned.

(birds chirping) At five o'clock, 90 minutes after the explosion, he takes the ferry, bringing with him two cases full of weapons and ammunition.

Dressed as a policeman, he tells the ferryman that he has come to secure the island and that reinforcements are on their way.

(dramatic music) (ramp creaks) - Over a hill, 70 meters from where we were standing, a guy in dark clothes came kind of walking over the hill, and some people ran towards him.

And then, I saw him lift his gun and shoot down a boy who was running towards him.

(dramatic music continues) (ice crackles) I turned around somehow and ran into the woods with my friends.

And in the meantime, the shooting continued.

I heard gunshots all the time.

Then I walked down onto the track that goes around the island, the so-called love track.

A lot of people were standing there confused about what was happening, and we advised people to try to hide and be quiet.

(Astrid speaking in foreign language) (birds chirping) (dramatic music continues) (eerie music) (water lapping) - Along the track, a young boy was sitting, he was eight years old.

He was afraid and looked very alone.

Wild gunshots was continuing around us constantly.

And I was lying halfway on top of this boy and covering his mouth, and making sure he didn't scream or run away.

He wanted to look for his father, but looking for his father would be really dangerous.

And then, after a while, the gunshots came closer to where we were and a group of people came running through the woods and in the group was another young boy.

So I took the two boys and ran with this crowd along the track again.

It struck me how incredibly quiet such a large group of teenagers could be, we were like 30 people.

It was dead silence between the gunshots.

(dramatic music) The gunman was not far from us.

We continued running through the woods.

(tense music) (Astrid speaking in foreign language) (tense music continues) - Above us, we could see a helicopter in the air, and we could see boats in the water.

We were fairly sure that we would be safe very soon.

And this man in a police uniform came out from the woods behind us.

And he said, "They've caught the bad guy," and that we were safe, and he lifted his gun and started shooting at the group.

(tense music continues) For a moment there, I thought that this was my last moment.

I'm going to die now.

And there I saw Breivik take aim at me, but Breivik's bullet missed me.

(officer speaking in foreign language) (Anders speaking in foreign language) (officer speaking in foreign language) (Anders speaking in foreign language) (officer speaking in foreign language) (phone beeps) (tense music) - Breivik walked back up onto the island where he was arrested by the police.

The real police, the young boys were kind of panicking.

I myself was all of a sudden in a state of shock, my shock kind of manifested in trying to take care of the boys as best as I could.

In many ways, it was really helpful for me to be able to help someone else I think and be able to care for someone else in that situation.

Because if I was there just by myself, I would have taken in in a very different way, I think.

The two fathers of the two boys had been volunteering as security guards, they were among the first people that Breivik met when he arrived on the island, and among the first people to get shot.

(somber music) (Lisbeth speaking in foreign language) (Astrid speaking in foreign language) (gentle music) (gentle music continues) - It wasn't until late night that we got the message that one person had been arrested at Utoya, it was a male.

He was Norwegian.

And I think at the same time, we got news that he had published his manifests as well.

So we kind of got a picture of what kind of person it was.

(slide shuffling) - We will not be intimidated or threatened by these attacks.

The aim of such attacks is to spread fear and panic.

We will not let that happen.

We must stand firm in defending our values.

Norway is an open, tolerant and inclusive society.

Only through open debate can we overcome extremism and intolerance.

(Lisbeth speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music) - There is a level of naivety, and that Norway thought it was exceptional and that terrorism couldn't happen there.

And that's really kind of frustrating.

It took them way too long to get to the island.

There was lots of things that are really kind of fundamentally wrong with how the police was handling the case, from pretty much the explosion in Oslo and onward.

And Norway was not at all prepared for something like this.

(dramatic music continues) (siren blaring) - A lot of people asked us why wasn't he shot at Utoya, why didn't they kill him when it was possible?

Why take the costs of a trial the economical costs and the emotional costs?

My opinion is that it was very important for Norway that he was caught alive.

(dramatic music continues) We met in a very, very small room to have our first meeting.

And one has thoughts about what kind of person does such a terrible act and why?

That was the big questions.

He didn't want to be declared insane.

This was an act that was wanted by him.

(dramatic music continues) He wanted to enlighten his political view.

He wanted what he called fireworks to draw attention to what was his political meaning.

And that is why it was important for him, of course, not to be insane because an insane man's political view is of non-interest.

- [Narrator] On April 16th, 2012, the trial of Anders Breivik begins.

He is accused of murdering 77 people.

(Lisbeth speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music continues) (woman speaking in foreign language) (Anders speaking in foreign language) (Lisbeth speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music continues) (gentle music) - Oslo Courthouse had to build a new courtroom, not because we needed a new courtroom, but because it was important that this trial went for open doors for everyone to see, and in order to understand why this happened and how Norway as a nation deal with it.

Every day here in court, our back rooms where we went to the restrooms and the other social rooms were shared with the victims.

And we thought at the start that could be difficult.

One can understand them being angry or to frame their grief and their sorrow and hate to us defending the terrorist.

But it wasn't like that, we could stand in the lines and they would say, "We respect the job that you're doing.

Please go on.

We need this trial."

(gentle music continues) And that was very strong.

That did something with all of us.

- First time I saw Breivik in trial, felt like when you're on a roller coaster and you get pulled up the first hill, kind of tingling feeling in your stomach.

(dramatic music) There was this built-up pressure in my guts, but then I never fell.

It just disappeared, just to be in the same room as him and experienced that and experience that he no longer posed a threat to me, which was also a kind of big step for me to know that this guy who tried to kill me can no longer hurt me.

That was very good for me, I think, in so many ways.

(dramatic music continues) I'm a massive politics geek.

I knew a lot about how the legal system in Norway works.

And I knew that 21 years was the maximum sentence, it is a strangeness of the Norwegian court system.

But a strangeness that I'm kind of proud of.

Our entire juridical system is based on the theory that you can be reintegrated and rehabilitated from being a criminal.

And so the rite of people who come out of prison and commit crimes again in Norway is extremely low.

(dramatic music continues) From a legal perspective, Breivik is sane, and that's always been fairly evident to me.

He planned the attack for a long time.

He wasn't acting in some irrational fit.

He knew what he was doing.

He was calculated.

(phone rings) There was a lot of push to try to change the system so that he could get a lifetime sentence.

A lot of the motivations for ruling him criminally insane would be to actually be able to imprison him for life as well, although, in a mental institution rather than in prison.

Treating him like any other convict, you show that everyone's equal before law, even our worst enemies.

That is a way of leading by example, really, and showing that he was wrong in how he wanted to treat others.

(slide shuffles) (upbeat music) - One main aspect of rehabilitation in Norwegian prisons is a sort of principle of normality that you bring the society inside the prison.

Of courses, it's important in Norwegian prisons to work for de-radicalization of the people sitting there and not hating the society and the states.

It's a very difficult matter to deal with.

But I think to get the prisoners think differently, it is possible mostly by the same methods as we are raising kids, giving them education giving them opportunities to have a job, opportunities to have a place of living, leading ordinary life like all of us.

(upbeat music continues) I find it very strange that there are some politicians arguing for stronger and longer sentences.

In many other countries, they see that the crime rate is much higher where they are just putting all their efforts in long sentences and tough sentences.

So my vision was to be tough, but we needed also to be, in a way, soft, giving the prisoners a chance to get a new life.

And that is the reducing the crime and reducing also the people coming back to prison, I'm quite sure about it.

(dramatic music) - Anders Behring Breivik was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

That is the longest prison time we have in the Norwegian law system.

But it is in his verdict that he has to be found not dangerous to society before he releases from jail after those 21 years.

So every five years that can be tried again.

So it is, in a way theoretically, that he will be released if he has changed his mindset and that this parole board, the judges will find that he's not a danger to society.

He shall be released.

(dramatic music) (wind whooshing) (Lisbeth speaking in foreign language) (dramatic music continues) (birds chirping) (dramatic music) - I wanted to try to figure out what had happened to me, try to understand why it had happened in some sort of way.

But I wanted to understand what had happened to Breivik as well.

As part of that, also starting the process of figuring how can we prevent other people from going down that path and becoming like Breivik.

(dramatic music continues) What I really want to do is build societies in which people don't become criminals in the first place.

A lot of people think we should be harder on criminals when they commit crimes.

I want to create a society in which people don't get to a place where they have to commit crimes.

I started looking into Breivik's history, and Breivik comes from Oslo, he's similar to me in many ways, but he locked himself in a different bubble than me.

He lived in a different world than me, a world that was driven by fear, by fear of people being different.

And so I invite you all to break your bubbles, speak to someone who is vastly different from you.

Someone with a different world view, someone with a different way of experiencing and seeing life.

And by speaking to each other, we can fight extremism together.

(audience applauds) (gentle music) (Astrid speaking in foreign language) (people speaking in foreign language) (people cheering) (gentle music continues) (people applauds) (dramatic music) (dramatic music continues)