Biography
Breivik was born in London, on 13 February 1979,[26][27] the son of Wenche Behring, a nurse, and Jens David Breivik, a Siviløkonom (Norwegian professional title, literally "civil economist"), who worked as a diplomat for the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London and later Paris.[28] He spent the first year of his life in London until his parents divorced when he was one year old. His father, who later married a diplomat, fought for his custody but failed. Breivik lived with his mother and his half sister in the west-end of Oslo and regularly visited his father and stepmother in France, until they divorced when he was 12. His mother also remarried, to a Norwegian army officer.[29]
Breivik attended Smestad Grammar School, Ris Junior High, Hartvig Nissen High School and Oslo Commerce School.[30] A former classmate has recalled that he was an intelligent student who often took care of people who were bullied.[31] When he reached adolescence, Breivik's behaviour became more rebellious and wayward. He and his gang of friends would reportedly spend their evenings hanging around in Oslo, spraying tags and graffiti on buildings. He later wrote that after he was caught spraying graffiti on walls, his father stopped contact with him.[30]
Breivik criticised both of his parents for supporting the policies of the Norwegian Labour Party, and his mother for being a moderate feminist. He wrote about his upbringing: "I do not approve of the super-liberal, matriarchal upbringing as it completely lacked discipline and has contributed to feminising me to a certain degree."
Breivik's father, who currently lives in France as a pensioner, has confirmed that he has had no contact with his son since 1995.[32] His home in the south of France was surrounded by gendarmes following the murders.[33][34] They initially said they were searching the premises,[35] but later the state prosecutor at Carcassonne said that the gendarmes were to protect Breivik and his wife.[30] The local mayor's office said Breivik had requested protection against harassment from journalists.[36] After the attack, Jens Breivik is quoted as saying "I don't feel like his father", and "How could he just stand there and kill so many innocent people and just seem to think that what he did was OK? He should have taken his own life, too. That's what he should have done", adding "I will have to live with this shame for the rest of my life."[35] Breivik's mother has reportedly left her home after her son's arrest and is staying at a secret location.[37]
Breivik was exempt from conscription in the Norwegian Army and has no military training.[38] In his manifesto, Breivik described how he avoided his mandatory military service in the Norwegian Army three times, by claiming he would not put his life on the line for Norway’s political parties.
For some time Breivik worked in a customer service company.[39] A former co-worker has described him as an "exceptional colleague",[40] while a close friend of his stated that he usually had a big ego and would be easily irritated by those of Middle Eastern or South Asian origin.[41] Breivik claims that he started a nine-year-plan to finance the attack in 2002, founding his own "computer programming" business while working at the customer service company. He claims that his company grew to six employees and "several offshore bank accounts", and that he made his first million at the age of 24.[42] The company was later declared bankrupt and Breivik was reported for several breaches of the law.[43] To save money, he moved back to his mother's home. His declared fortune in 2007 was about 630,000 Norwegian krones, according to Norwegian tax authority figures.[39] He claims that by 2008 he had about two million Norwegian krones and nine credit cards giving him access to €26,000 in credit.[42]
In May 2009 he founded a farming company under the name "Breivik Geofarm",[44] described as a farming sole proprietorship set up to cultivate vegetables, melons, roots and tubers.[27] In the same year he visited Prague in an attempt to buy illegal weapons. The attempt was a failure, and Breivik decided to obtain weapons through legal channels instead.[45] He had no declared income in 2009 and his fortune amounted to 390,000 Norwegian krones, according to Norwegian tax authority figures.[39] In January 2010 he states that his funds are "depleting gradually". On 23 June 2011, a month before the attacks, he paid the outstanding amount on his nine credit cards in order to have access to funds while he continued his preparations.[42] In late June or early July 2011, he moved to a rural area south of Åsta in Åmot, Hedmark county, about 140 km (86 miles) northeast of Oslo,[46]the site of his farm. Immediately after the attack there was speculation that he could have used the company as a cover to legally obtain large amounts of artificial fertiliser and other chemicals for the manufacturing of explosives.[46] A farming supplier sold Breivik's company six tonnes of fertiliser in May.[47] Newspaper Verdens Gang reported that after Breivik bought large amounts of fertiliser from an online shop in Poland, his name was among 60 passed to the Police Security Service (PST) by Norwegian Customs as having used the store to buy products. Speaking to the newspaper, Jon Fitje of PST said the information they found gave no indication of anything suspicious. Despite this, the security service accessed his phone and email but only for 24 hours. In his manifesto Breivik described his first experiments with the fertiliser nitrate explosives before detailing a successful test detonation at a remote location on 13 June 2011.[48] He sets the cost of the preparations for the attacks at 317,000 euros - "130,000 out of pocket and 187,500 euros in lost revenue over three years."[39]
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