Through reflections and examples, this lecture will seek to describe memory as a source of community and reconciliation rather than conflict. The terror attacks of 22 July 2011 in Oslo and at Utøya in Norway are used as a backdrop, exemplifying a perverse use of memory and history to legitimate hatred and armed attack, but also as an example of how people can come together in the face of such divisive rhetoric and tragic attacks.

Henrik Syse is a research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and a professor of peace and conflict studies at Bjørknes University College in Oslo. Syse has published widely on philosophy, politics, and ethics, and he is chief co-editor of the Journal of Military Ethics. He has been a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Nobel Peace Prize, since 2015 and became its vice chair in 2017. Syse received an MA from Boston College and a PhD from the University of Oslo.