Blitz House (Blitzhuset)
Blitz House (Norwegian: Blitzhuset) is a self-managed anarchist social center in central Oslo that has operated since 1982. The building at Pilestredet 30C began as a squat before the collective negotiated a long-term lease with the city, and it has run on a do-it-yourself, volunteer basis ever since. Under one roof, the house holds Café Blitz (vegan food at low prices), an infoshop stocked with political literature and zines, practice rooms for bands, group rooms used by direct action collectives, a concert hall that regularly hosts punk and hardcore shows, and radiOrakel, the world’s oldest feminist radio station. Anti-Fascist Action Norway has organized out of Blitz for decades, and the house has served as a base for a range of solidarity projects.
The history of the space is inseparable from the anti-fascist struggle in Norway. Neo-Nazis bombed the building twice, in 1990 and again in 1994, and in 1993 police discovered that black metal musician Varg Vikernes had stockpiled explosives with the house as a target. Blitz stayed open through all of it. During the 1980s, the people around the house were involved in street confrontations with police during visits by Margaret Thatcher and Caspar Weinberger. From the 1990s onward, Blitz has repeatedly blocked far-right gatherings in the city. Alongside Hausmania (also in Oslo) and UFFA in Trondheim, it is one of the three main centers of anarchist organizing in Norway.
The collective runs the space on a flat, participatory basis with no paid staff and no external funding. Everyone who uses the house is expected to help run it. Blitz has faced repeated political pressure, including a 2002 attempt by Oslo’s city council to sell the building, which the collective defeated through direct action. The space continues to host concerts, political discussions, film screenings, and organizing meetings on a weekly basis.
Own or work here?
