Ikea, the Swedish furniture company, said it “deeply regrets" that political prisoners in the former German Democratic Republic manufactured its products.
The company admitted the use of prison labour after it released an independent report into its links with both the East German communist state and Cuba.
The report, by auditors Ernst & Young, concluded that German prisoners had supplied parts to the Swedish company for nearly 30 years.
“We deeply regret that this could happen," said Jeanette Skjelmose, Ikea’s sustainability manager. “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."
The company had claimed previously that it had no knowledge of the use of forced labour at any plant used to supply its products.
Ikea developed strong links with the East German communist state in the 1970s, striking deals with manufacturers to supply products and furniture components. One of the producers, according to Stasi records discovered by German television, used political prisoners to build sofas. The factory in the town of Waldheim stood next to a prison and it was claimed that inmates were used as unpaid labour.
Hans Klare, a former inmate at Waldheim who worked on sofa production at the factory, described conditions there as “slave labour", with workers having to sleep above the factory floor, working long hours and in dangerous conditions.
The Telegraph , The Telegraph