Benjamin Hermansen (29 May 1985 – 26 January 2001) was a Norwegian youth whose father was born in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

; his mother was Norwegian. He was stabbed to death at Holmlia in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway, just before midnight on 26 January 2001 by people from the

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

group Boot Boys. Joe Erling Jahr (born 1981) and Ole Nicolai Kvisler (born 1979) were convicted of the murder and sentenced to 16 and 15 years in prison respectively. A third defendant, Veronica Andreassen, was convicted on a lesser charge of abetting bodily harm causing death and sentenced to three years in prison.

Response to the murder

Since the murder was motivated by

xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

, it mobilised parts of the Norwegian population. Throughout the entire country, marches were organised to protest against the murder, with nearly 40,000 people participating in Oslo.

"Song to Benjamin"

Hermansen was buried on 6 February 2001. "Song to Benjamin", written by several of his friends for the service, was presented at his funeral. The song was later recorded in studio by artists including

Noora Noor Noora Noor aka Noora (born 8 July 1979) is a Somali-Norwegian neo soul singer. Career Noor performed locally from the age of eight and got a recording contract with Warner Music Group, Warner Music at 15. She then began working with Stargate ( ...

and

Briskeby Briskeby is an electropop band from Larvik, Norway. Bjørn Bergene, Claus Heiberg Larsen and Bård Helgeland are from Larvik, while Lise Karlsnes is from Tønsberg. Biography Their debut album ''Jeans for Onassis'' was released in 2000, sold ...

The Benjamin Prize

In 2003, the Benjamin Prize was founded in Hermansen's memory. It is awarded on 27 January every year.

Michael Jackson's ''Invincible''

American singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

dedicated his 2001 album ''

Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 theatrical film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy/martial arts TV movie starring Billy Za ...

'' to Benjamin Hermansen (and also to his own parents and grandmother). The reason for this has partly to do with the fact that the Holmlia boy Omer Bhatti and Jackson were close friends, and Bhatti was at the same time a good friend of Benjamin Hermansen. On the album cover, next to the image of a rose, it reads:

Testament

Clara Dorothea Weltzin (1925–2007), an Oslo woman with far-right views, left money to "people and organisations" that "work against immigration" in her will. A committee of three people including

Erik Gjems-Onstad Erik-Ørn Gjems-Onstad (22 February 1922 – 18 November 2011) was a Norwegian Norwegian resistance movement, resistance member, officer, lawyer, sports official, politician, author and anti-immigration activist. Gjems-Onstad joined the Norwegi ...

debated including 250,000

Norwegian kroner The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...

(c. US$43,000) to Ole Nicolai Kvisler, something that caused major headlines in Norwegian media, and there were also suspicions regarding the legality of doing it.

Perpetrators

After their release from prison, Ole Nicolai Kvisler resumed his activities in the

community, while Joe Erling Jahr apologised for the murder.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermansen, Benjamin 1985 births 2001 deaths 2000s in Oslo Neo-fascist terrorist incidents Deaths by person in Norway Deaths by stabbing in Norway Child murder in Norway 2001 murders in Norway Neo-Nazism in Norway Norwegian murder victims Norwegian people of Ghanaian descent People murdered in Norway Place of birth missing Racially motivated violence against black people in Europe Racially motivated violence in Norway Trials in Norway January 2001 in Europe Incidents of violence against boys Stabbing attacks in Norway Stabbing attacks in 2001 Murder trials 2000s trials Terrorist incidents in Norway Terrorist incidents in Europe in 2001 White nationalist terrorism