IKEA expresses 'deep regret' for using forced German labor

BERLIN — Swedish furniture giant Ikea expressed regret Friday that it benefited from the use of forced prison labor by some of its suppliers in communist East Germany more than two decades ago.

The company released an independent report showing that East German prisoners, among them many political dissidents, were involved in the manufacture of goods that were supplied to Ikea 25 to 30 years ago.

The report concluded that Ikea managers were aware of the possibility that prisoners would be used in the manufacture of its products but failed to do so.

"We deeply regret that this could happen," said Jeanette Skjelmose, an Ikea manager. "The use of political prisoners for manufacturing was at no point accepted by IKEA."

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But she added that "at the time we didn't have the well-developed control system that we have today and we clearly did too little to prevent such production methods."

Ikea commissioned auditors Ernst & Young to look into allegations aired by a Swedish television documentary in June, but first raised by a human rights group in 1982.

Read IKEA's statement on forced labor in East Germany (in German)

'The tip of the iceberg'?
Rainer Wagner, chairman of the victims' group UOKG, said Ikea was just one of many companies that benefited from the use of forced prison labor in East Germany from the 1960s to 1980s.

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"Ikea is only the tip of the iceberg," he told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this week.

Wagner said he hoped that Ikea and others would consider compensating former prisoners, many of whom carry psychological and physical scars from arduous labor they were forced to do.

"Ikea has taken the lead on this, for which we are very grateful," he told a news conference in Berlin, where the report was presented.

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Peter Betzel, the head of Ikea Germany, said the company would continue to support efforts to investigate the use of prisoners in East Germany in future.