The furniture giant pays six million euros to the fund representing the victims of East Germany. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ikea’s subcontractors used prisoners as forced labor in East Germany.
The Swedish furniture giant Ikea has promised to pay six million euros in compensation due to the use of East German political prisoners. Ikea’s subcontractors did forced labor on prisoners in the 1970s and 1980s in East Germany.
Ikea pays compensation to the fund representing the victims of the East German regime. The German parliament is scheduled to vote on the foundation of the fund in the coming weeks.
Swedish public broadcasting company SVT revealed the use of prisoner labor in 2012 after examining the archives of the East German security police, the Stasi.
According to the documents, Ikea made its furniture all over the country until 1989, i.e. until the fall of the Berlin Wall. The purpose was to save on production costs.
Ikea admitted the use of prisoner labor already in 2012. After that, the company spent years negotiating compensations with the victims and the authority investigating the crimes of the East German communist regime.
– We deeply regret that Ikea products were also produced by political prisoners, the director of Ikea’s German operations Walter Kadnar said according to news agency AFP.
Source: AFP