Furniture firm IKEA will pay 70M kroner ($6M) as reparations to political prisoners of the erstwhile German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, whom it used as forced labor in the 1970s and 1980s. Ikea's exploitation was revealed in 2012 by the SVT television network.Furniture firm IKEA will pay 70M kroner (about $6M) as reparations to political prisoners of the former German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, whom it used as forced labor in the 1970s and 1980s. Ikea's exploitation was documented in 2012 by the SVT television network.
The Swedish company has 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 a hardship fund.
This is a commendable step in IkeaIKEA acknowledging and addressing its historical involvement in a horrible situation. IkeaIKEA is now providing compensation for affected individuals and funding additional research on forced labor in East Germany. Victims’' groups have praised Ikea for its transparency and for pioneering an effort to acknowledgerecognize this shameful chapter of history, and they're hoping that other companies will follow suit.
IkeaIKEA may be doing the right thing for East German prisoners but its track record tells another story. From Belarus to Poland, Ikea’IKEA's labor practices frequently clash with its public commitment to workers’' rights. Though reparations are a step forward, Ikea’IKEA's treatment of labor continues to fall far short of its professed values and it must do better moving forward.