IKEA admits East German prison labour

Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has admitted that it benefitted from the labour of East Germany’s political prisoners up until the late 1980s. The news comes nearly six months after the Uppdrag Granskning television programme confronted the retailer on the issue. IKEA initially denied the claims, but said that it would launch a probe into the matter.

The company announced that an external investigation by Earnest and Young had confirmed that claims were indeed valid. The firm’s sustainability head told the media, “We are deeply sorry that this could happen.”

The official report said that the inquiry had uncovered, “indications that political prisoners and convicts were partly involved in producing parts or pieces of furniture that were delivered to IKEA 25 or 30 years ago. In addition, the investigation showed that IKEA managers were aware of the possibility.

KIKEA said, “At the time, we did not yet have the well-organised control system we have today and clearly did not do enough to prevent this type of production method. Using political prisoners in production has never been accepted within the group. During this time, we did not have the well-developed control system and it’s clear that it was not enough to prevent the incident.”