Today in really bad press, a bunch of secret police documents have just revealed that in the '70s Ikea used political prisoners in East Germany as, essentially, slave labor. During this time, the Ikea factory in Waldheim pulled nearly 20 percent of their workforce from the jail right next door, positioning inmates in subhuman working conditions; company founder Ingvar Kamprad maintained he didn't "officially" know it was happening, but if it did ''in the opinion of Ikea it would be in society's interests." According to the Sydney Morning Herald, one former prisoner "said he recognised [sic] some of the parts he had made when he shopped in Ikea after the fall of communism." Yikes! [SMH via International Business Time]
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