REPORTER: Amos Roberts
JORID NORDMELAN (Translation): Hi, do you want a rose from the Labour Party? No?
In a shopping centre in the small town of Namsos, Jorid Nordmelan is campaigning for Norway's upcoming election.
JORID NORDMELAN (Translation): Hi, would you like a rose from the Labour Party? Here you are. Have a nice day.
At the age of only 22, she's already a political survivor.
REPORTER: Do you tell people who you are?
JORID NORDMELAN: No. Actually, most people know.
Jorid is well known here, because two years ago she survived the country's worst massacre since World War II. On 22 July, 2011, a right-wing fanatic tried to wipe out Norway's next generation of left-wing politicians. Now survivors of the attack are more determined than ever to enter politics.
REPORTER: How did what happened that day change you?
JORID NORDMELAN: I don't feel - I don't feel as young as the other 22 years old I know. It feels unfair. I carry it with me every day and I remember what happened every day. But I'm more and more able to use it positively.
REPORTER: And is that one of the reasons why you're involved in politics?
JORID NORDMELAN: Yeah.
Anders Behring Breivik launched his attack in Oslo. A massive bomb outside the Prime Minister's office tore apart government buildings, killing eight. When Jorid heard about the bombing, she was 40km away on the island of Utøya, at an annual summer camp for the Labour Party Youth Movement.
JORID NORDMELAN: It was just a lot of confusion and people started crying. It was so overwhelming in a way that I started to cry as well. And I just went into the forest, just to get some alone time.
Distressed, Jorid called her boyfriend.
JORID NORDMELAN: I think maybe just right after he said hello. I started hearing shooting on the island. And I told him this, I told him that someone was shooting. This is definitely shooting. I've heard this sound before. And then I said, "I have to go." And then I just hung up and I ran towards the school hut that was now right in front of me.
JØRN ØVERBY (Translation): There is not a day when I don’t think about what happened here at Utøya. I live nearby so I see it on my way to and from work. Morning and night, particularly the light here on the pier behind us, it’s like from a horror film.
Jørn Øverby, who lives across the lake from Utøya, went to investigate the gunfire.
JØRN ØVERBY (Translation): The shots were so close together and so loud that I could tell it was a semi-automatic rifle being used. And that it was obviously a serious situation.
Within minutes, he found people in the water.
JØRN ØVERBY (Translation): There were bodies floating all over the bay here. The first thing I saw was a young girl floating face down. You could see that these were very young people when you had a bra with Mickey Mouse on it.
69 people were killed on Utøya. Despite being shot at by Breivik, Jørn rescued as many as he could. He takes me to see where Jorid was hiding.
JØRN ØVERBY (Translation): Here quite a few youths barricaded themselves and saved their lives by hiding inside the school house and being quiet.
JORID NORDMELAN: Right after this, we heard a shot against the door. It was really close. You could hear the shots clearly. But this one, it was so loud. It was like an explosion in a way, because we just were so frightened because we knew that now he's here, he's shooting at us, you know, for sure. And then he fired one more shot and then it was just total quiet in the schoolhouse. Nobody said anything. Nobody moved a muscle.
The worst feeling was knowing that there's absolutely nothing I can do to save my life today, because if he enters the schoolhouse, then everybody will die. And if he doesn't, then everybody will survive. But that's not up to me, it's up to him. The third shot was further away and we knew that he moved. And that was such a relief for one second, until we understood that obviously he's shooting at someone else now. And those are our friends, all of them are our friends.
These are my friends from Namsos. This is Helena and Hanna. They didn't want to get their picture taken, obviously. But I'm glad I have this picture now because Helena, unfortunately, died and Hanna was seriously injured. So she's actually - she was shot twice in that arm and once in the neck here. And so she lost her finger and she actually has problems or issues moving her arm now. It's the only picture of took of them.
JØRN ØVERBY (Translation): Ten people were shot and killed here. They lay hand-in-hand, embracing each other. Meanwhile, many others had jumped down the slope, down here, and many were killed, shot from above, many lay down the slope here, but there were also quite a few survivors here.
YLVA SCHWENKE: We just had to slide down, slide down the hill. I remember - I remember that I got shot in the shoulder. It was like someone had hit me really hard, so hard that I couldn't feel it anymore.
REPORTER: And this is here?
YLVA SCHWENKE: This is here. Yeah. This is the - he used expanding bullets, so when they hit tissue, they expand so they can make as much damage as possible.
Remarkably, Ylva, who was also shot twice in the stomach and once in each of her legs, survived.
YLVA SCHWENKE: In the beginning, I was certain I would die. Then I figured, if I die, what will I miss? And I - I hadn't seen the last Harry Potter movie! So I thought about that. I was very sad, because I might not get the chance to see the last Harry Potter movie.
By the time police found Ylva, it was a full hour after the shooting began. Jorid remembers seeing Breivik as she left the island.
JORID NORDMELAN: Yeah, he was really happy, smiling. So I was like, "What? Is this the guy?" And then he looked me in the eye and he looked like - it felt like I was freezing, in a way. It was such an awful feeling, to get eye contact with him, because he looked so evil to me. And my first thought was that he just had to be a Nazi or something.
REPORTER: Have your values, have your politics been affected by what you experienced on 22 July?
JORID NORDMELAN: Well, in a way, they have because I look at life differently now. I really want to fight for the values that he attacked that day. Our society with high taxes, with welfare good for everybody, with equal opportunities for everybody, he attacked the multicultural society, which I think is beautiful in Norway. Those are important values for me and he attacked it that day.
More than 30 of the survivors are running as candidates in the election next month. Jorid is optimistic about her chances in this area.
JORID NORDMELAN (Translation): I’m the only youth candidate from any party with a chance of getting into Parliament. So we hope first time voters will vote Labour for that reason. We think it’s important that youth is represented.
Ironically, in the aftermath of a brutal attack on young people interested in politics, a lot more young people have shown an interest in politics since.
JORID NORDMELAN (Translation): So you are at least going to vote? That’s good. It’s your first time?
GIRL (Translation): Yes, first time this year. That is why I have got to listen a bit.
JORID NORDMELAN: After 2011, many young people entered political parties. They just rushed to enter the political parties. And that was great. And many more young people than ever before voted, and that's also great. They were more aware of the fact that it's vulnerable, our democracy, and we have to fight for it.
Curiously, Jørn Øverby, who rescued young Labour politicians that day, is himself active in the party Breivik once belonged to - the Anti-Immigration Progress Party.
REPORTER: So you also don't agree with the young people that were going to school here?
JØRN ØVERBY (Translation): No. They need to learn their politics and that is important so I can get some political opponents in the future. I said to several of the survivors after meeting them again later – you should by no means stop doing politics because of this. Now you have to continue in politics and become skilful. That is important.
ESKIL PEDERSEN (Translation): I think it is important that 22/7 never will be forgotten.
Eskil Pedersen has led the Labour Party's Youth Movement, AUF, since 2010. Two years ago today, he escaped Utøya shortly after the shooting began.
ESKIL PEDERSEN (Translation): I’ll talk about the people we wish were here and that we miss.
Today, Eskil and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, himself a former AUF leader, will attend events commemorating the terrorist attacks. The anniversary has also become important as a day to reject racism.
ESKIL PEDERSEN (Translation): I think it is very important we commemorate 22 July and never forget it.
As head of the AUF, Eskil is a powerful figure, and he's also a Labour Party candidate in the upcoming election.
REPORTER: How do you feel the events that day have changed you?
ESKIL PEDERSEN: I think that the acts on 22 July have not changed either me or Norwegian society. And I think that is a good thing, because that is one of the goals of terrorism, to change society, to change people from doing what they want to do.
REPORTER: So, there's no room for cynicism about politics?
ESKIL PEDERSEN: No. Not that much room anymore.
SINGER (Translation): “The songs about freedom about equality and peace The songs about the people that never can be defeated… the songs about love which are never silenced new voices will sing new voices will sing.”
ESKIL PEDERSEN (Translation): Dear everyone, it's good to see you again. But it still feels so meaningless that we come together in mourning to commemorate the 77 spirited, irreplaceable people who were taken from us here at Utøya and in the government quarter.
JENS STOLTENBERG, PRIME MINISTER, NORWAY (Translation): Two years on, my message to you is that the path you have staked out is even more important than before. Thankfully, the extremists have not put an end to diversity in Norway.
REPORTER: Why do you think young people in Norway are so politically engaged? People seem to be involved in political parties as teenagers at high school? That doesn't happen in so many countries.
ESKIL PEDERSEN: The political youth parties have more power in Norway than many countries. The Labour Youth in Norway, we can criticise the Prime Minister on political issues. And the population think it's an important role of the Youth Party. I think the Labour Youth as well as the other youth parties have actual power within the parties. We are an important fraction that can actually tip a vote in our favour on political issues.
REPORTER: How is that? I mean, many, if not most, of your members don't even have the vote?
ESKIL PEDERSEN: No. But we have the vote inside the party. We have real power. We are 13,000 members of the Labour Youth. There are 50,000 in the Labour Party. So we are quite a big percentage of that number.
REPORTER: And that maybe explains why, to a man like Breivik, a summer camp for the AUF was a good target?
ESKIL PEDERSEN: Unfortunately, he saw that we stand for the opposite of what he believes in. We have power and possibility to influence the policies of Norway.
REPORTER: You're going to bear the physical scars of those bullets for the rest of your life.
YLVA SCHWENKE: Yes.
REPORTER: How do you feel about that?
YLVA SCHWENKE: In a way, it's OK. It's OK. I mean, as long as my body parts work, then I think it's OK. I bear my scars with dignity because I got them for something I believe in.
REPORTER: And what is that something?
YLVA SCHWENKE: That young people can engage in what's happening around them. You know, freedom of speech, but just democracy, really.
ANJALI RAO: Amos Roberts with some very inspiring young survivors in Norway. Go to our website for more on all tonight's stories, including extended interviews with those two women. There's more on their ordeals and the remarkable way they've come through it all. At sbs.com.au/dateline
Reporter/Camera
AMOS ROBERTS
Producer
DONALD CAMERON
Researchers
FRANK MATHISEN
MELANIE MORRISON
Editors
NICK O’BRIEN
WAYNE LOVE
Fixer
CHRISTIAN STRANGER-JOHANNESSEN
Translations/Subtitling
FRANK MATHISEN
Original music composed by
VICKI HANSEN
Photographs courtesy of Ylva Schwenke, Jorid Nordmelan & Tore Sinding Bekkedal