Ikea opens wallet for Cold War forced labor while other firms stay silent
Swedish furniture giant agrees to pay millions for using East German prison labor during Cold War era. Other major companies face similar accusations but refuse to acknowledge their past connections
The Swedish home-furnishing mega-store made a ground-breaking move this fall: agreeing to give €6M to ex-political prisoners who made its products in East Germany back in cold-war times (when labor costs were super-cheap behind the iron curtain)
André Wagenzik remembers the harsh reality of those times; the Stasi locked him up about 40 years ago for so-called “state interference“. He spent his days making door-hinges for Ikea: if workers didnt meet impossible quotas they got thrown into tiny cells; one guy even spent two weeks alone in solitary
Ikeas investigation from roughly 10 years back showed they probably knew about using prison labor; their German CEO now says they feel bad about it. Other big names like Siemens and Aldi face similar questions — but Aldi claims its too hard to check old supply records
The forced-labor problem isnt just history though — its happening right now in China. Here are some companies that might be using Uyghur forced labor:
- Volkswagen (at its Xinjiang plant)
- BMW with parts suppliers
- H&M through material sourcing
- Zara in its supply chain
Modern companies seem to follow the same pattern as their cold-war predecessors: using cheap labor and looking away from how its obtained; even though they say they dont have “direct“ connections to forced work (which doesnt really clear them of blame)
