Ikea says product shortages will last well into the summer of 2022
Business InsiderFeb 03, 2022
Furniture firm Ikea will reportedly pay 70M kroners ($6.M) as reparations to political prisoners of the erstwhile German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, whom it used as forced labor in the 1970s-80s. Ikea's exploitation was revealed in 2012 by the SVT television network.
The Swedish company has reportedly handed over a declaration of intent in this regard to Evelyn Zupke, the German government commissioner handling affairs related to injustices in former East Germany. The German parliament will soon vote on the establishment of the fund.
SVT showed that Ikea sourced from furniture makers who employed prisoners and the Swedish firm's top management knew about it. Its founder Ingvar Kamprad had claimed that only one supplier was involved. Often, the prisoner-made goods were exchanged for West German hard currency.