One Month Later, Norway Honors Fallen

Memorial service marks end of mourning period
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2011 8:13 AM CDT
One Month Later, Norway Honors Fallen
Survivors and their relatives of the July 22 attack visit the island of Utoya in Norway Saturday Aug. 20 2011. Up to 1,000 survivors and relatives were expected on Utoya island.   (Cornelius Poppe)

A month after the terror attacks that left Norway reeling, the nation is honoring the 77 people who died at the hands of Anders Behring Breivik in a national memorial service that marks the end of the mourning period. Survivors, victims' families, celebrities, and a host of public officials converge on the Spektrum Arena today in a ceremony broadcast on national television, reports the AP.

Norway's King Harald and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg are slated to speak, and some of Norway's top musical acts—including '80s pop group A-ha, soprano Sissel Kyrkjeboe, rap group Karpe Diem, and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra—will perform. Survivor Stine Renate Haaheim was among those who returned to Utoya island yesterday to remember the fallen. "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," she said. "I think it's not possible to explain the feelings." (More Norway stories.)

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