Swedish furniture giant Ikea will contribute €6 million to a fund for victims of the dictatorship in communist East Germany, after admitting that political prisoners had worked on its products there. The company presented a declaration of intent on Tuesday to the parliamentary delegate for victims of the East German Communist Party (SED), according to the Ombudsman in question, Evelyn Zupke.
It is the culmination of a “close exchange of years” between Ikea, the Union of German Organizations of Victims of Communist Tyranny (UOKG) and the office of Evelyn Zupke, created in 2021, the three entities said in a joint press release. . The Ombudsman praised Ikea’s “responsible approach”, “even in relation to the dark chapters in the company’s history”.
Political prisoners and detainees exploited in the early 1980s
In 2012, the world’s number one in furniture acknowledged that some of its suppliers had used political prisoners to work in the GDR and expressed its “regret.” The study carried out by the consulting firm Ernst & Young concluded that political prisoners and detainees had contributed to the production of components or furniture in the early 1980s.
The investigation also showed that Ikea representatives were aware of this possibility of using detainees. After this first study, another report, written by the scientific advisor of the UOKG, expanded on the topic.
In 2022, Ikea announced its intention to financially support this national aid fund for victims of the GDR, whose creation the German Parliament will vote on in the coming weeks.
Dieter Dombrowski, president of the UOKG, quoted in the joint statement, expressed the hope that “more companies will follow Ikea’s example.” In 2014, the head of Deutsche Bahn (DB) also apologized for the forced employment of detainees who were forced to work for Reichsbahn, the GDR railway company since absorbed by DB.
Source: BFM TV
