Father of Norway’s mass murderer asks: What if?

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The father of Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian who killed 77 people in 2011, has written a book that questions his behavior as a parent.

Jens Breivik, a retired Norwegian diplomat living in southern France, got a divorce when his son was only a year old and claims to have had little contact with the boy.

But the new book is titled “My Fault?”

On Wednesday’s the Juritzen publishing house released a few quotes from the work, including this one: “I feel guilty. And I feel responsible. What if I had been a better father? Would Anders have done what he did?” At a news conference the company’s top official, Arve Juritzen, said Breivik wrote “My Fault?” with the help of a ghost-writer and that a copy of the book will be offered to the younger Breivik before its publication.

Before her death in 2013, the author’s former wife, Wenche Breivik, accused him of being a domestic tyrant and absent father who had lost contact with his son as a teenager.

Anders, a far-right fanatic, confessed to the July 22, 2011 attacks during which he killed eight people in a bombing attack on the government headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and 69 in a shooting spree at the left-wing Labor Party’s youth camp on Utoya island.

He is serving a 21-year prison sentence for his crime, which can be extended for as long as he’s considered dangerous to society.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up