The terror attacks in Norway in July 2011 led to massive popular mobilization as expressed in particular in thousands of memory messages displayed at spontaneous memorial sites. This article is based on a review and analysis of all messages collected in Oslo and in the area around Utøya island, using the concepts ‘critical event’, ‘national identity dynamic’, ‘depoliticization’ and ‘domestic alien’. It is shown that the predominant theme in the messages of peace and compassion is partly made possible by subordinate themes of depoliticization and of alienating the perpetrator from majority, national community, thus contributing to the continued construction of a Norwegian, national identity.