ABSTRACT
The location of the memorial in Kristiansand has distinct cultural values, evoking historical, religious, and political connotations. Counter-monument strategies of commemoration have been chosen in several objects commemorating the Holocaust, such as the Stolpersteine in Germany, Austria, and Belgium, the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe represented by 2751 granite stones in Berlin. Drawing on spatial discourse analysis, people might regard the memorial as one of several components in the spatial text. The Widerberg monument is not as overwhelming as many traditional naturalistic memorials are; it is rather modest and not elevated in relation to viewers. One of the members, Trond Blattmann, who lost his son in the terror attack and became leader of the National Support Group for the victims, wanted the design of the memorial location to be more extensive and inviting. Material commemorations sometimes refer to extremely traumatic experiences of a nation or city collectively, such as wars, natural disasters, and accidents.
