The father of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik said on Thursday he felt partially responsible and regretted not having been there for his son before he killed 77 people in 2011.
"If I had kept more in touch with him, if I had been a better father, maybe he would have become a different person," Jens Breivik said at the launch in Oslo of his book "My Fault? A Father's Story".
Jens Breivik is a retired diplomat and lives in France with his fourth wife. He has often been described as an authoritarian husband and an absent father.
Brevik's parents divorced around a year after the birth of Anders, who grew up with his mother.
Jens Breivik tried to get custody of his son when he was four years old, after the social services raised concerns about the child's situation, but his request was dismissed in court.
He lost contact with his son when he was 16.
Anders said his father broke off all ties, disappointed by his son's recurrent problems with the police for painting graffiti, but Jens says it was his son who severed all contact without giving an explanation.
"I could have done more, I'm aware of that. After all, I'm his father, the grown-up, and it wasn't my son's responsibility to get in touch," he writes in his book.
On several occasions, he says, he was "too passive".
"I think he's becoming more and more radical. Maybe he's becoming more dangerous too? I don't know," he said on Thursday.
Breivik, who is serving a 21-year prison sentence which can be extended later, refuses to see his father unless he joins his "fascist" ideology, Jens explains in the book.
"My door will remain open for all 'Nordicists' (referring to the defenders of the Nordic race), you included. But we both know you will never choose the most difficult way," Anders wrote in a letter to his father earlier this year.
"As many others, I think there's something wrong with Anders. A normal person would never write something like that," Jens said.
On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed 77 people in Oslo and the island of Utoeya, most of them adolescents at a youth summer camp.
The father of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik said on Thursday he felt partially responsible and regretted not having been there for his son before he killed 77 people in 2011.
“If I had kept more in touch with him, if I had been a better father, maybe he would have become a different person,” Jens Breivik said at the launch in Oslo of his book “My Fault? A Father’s Story”.
Jens Breivik is a retired diplomat and lives in France with his fourth wife. He has often been described as an authoritarian husband and an absent father.
Brevik’s parents divorced around a year after the birth of Anders, who grew up with his mother.
Jens Breivik tried to get custody of his son when he was four years old, after the social services raised concerns about the child’s situation, but his request was dismissed in court.
He lost contact with his son when he was 16.
Anders said his father broke off all ties, disappointed by his son’s recurrent problems with the police for painting graffiti, but Jens says it was his son who severed all contact without giving an explanation.
“I could have done more, I’m aware of that. After all, I’m his father, the grown-up, and it wasn’t my son’s responsibility to get in touch,” he writes in his book.
On several occasions, he says, he was “too passive”.
“I think he’s becoming more and more radical. Maybe he’s becoming more dangerous too? I don’t know,” he said on Thursday.
Breivik, who is serving a 21-year prison sentence which can be extended later, refuses to see his father unless he joins his “fascist” ideology, Jens explains in the book.
“My door will remain open for all ‘Nordicists’ (referring to the defenders of the Nordic race), you included. But we both know you will never choose the most difficult way,” Anders wrote in a letter to his father earlier this year.
“As many others, I think there’s something wrong with Anders. A normal person would never write something like that,” Jens said.
On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed 77 people in Oslo and the island of Utoeya, most of them adolescents at a youth summer camp.
