At this time, twenty years have passed since the catastrophic disco blaze in Gothenburg, Sweden, when 63 young people lost their lives.
The blaze started through arson in an unused stairway, where
highly volatile smoke gases gradually accumulated. While music and
dancing with hundreds of youngsters present were at its peak, someone
noticed a smell of smoke and eventually opened a door backstage
towards the staircase. The oxygen-deprieved gases spread under the
ballroom's ceiling within seconds. The explosion that followed
started fires immediately, everywhere. The only viable
escape route was narrow and soon blocked by unconscious, injured or
dead people. Many survivors were severely traumatized by horrible situations, like having to
climb over a mountain of bodies to force their way through what
little opening was left.
Hundreds were injured in body and soul. Literally thousands of
citizens of this city were deeply affected by the tragedy, parents,
brothers and sisters, relatives, classmates, teachers, friends. And
even tens of thousands who didn't know any victims or injured
youngsters personally entered into the great sadness, lying like a
dark cloud on Gothenburg for many days.
Both the affected people and those who took part in relief and
rehabilitation work will also remember these dark days as a time of
an intense feeling of closeness and solidarity, described by many as
a unique experience leaving indelible impressions. Thousands marched
again on October 29th, 2018 to take part in the commemoration at the
site of the blaze. Again a time for sharing both sorrow and a warm
solidarity.
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The image show below came about directly in the wake of the catastrophe 1998. It partly reflects the situation in my school, a Senior Secondary School in a Gothenburg suburb, which lost 15 students. All staff and many students went into a struggle to alleviate sorrow, to see to the injured and traumatized, to channel them to professional help, spend time with students mourning their friends, meet bereaved relatives visiting the school. During this time we were one big family, without the usual differences of age, rank, function. We all felt that we had to delve into the gravity of what had happened. And be united in grief as a first step to overcome the nightmare.
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On October 30th, 2018, principals, teachers, counselors and other staff members of our school came together for a remembrance meeting in the school's own Memorial Courtyard, created directly after the tragedy. Especially in the early aftermath this place played an important role for silent meditation and the handling of grieve and sorrow that was all about.
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