IKEA will pay 6 million euros to East German prisoners forced to build their furniture in a groundbreaking move

Furniture giant IKEA has agreed to pay 6 million euros ($6.5 million) to a government fund to compensate victims of forced labor under The communist dictatorship of Germanyin a move that campaigners hope will put pressure on other companies to follow suit.

Both political and criminal prisoners in Germany were forced to build flatpack furniture during the Cold War Ikea. The revelations came to light more than a decade ago in Swedish and German media reports, prompting the company to launch an independent investigation.

Prisoners still produced furniture for IKEA, a global giant in the home furnishings industry, in the 1970s and 1980s, according to research by accountants Ernst & Young. IKEA representatives at the time were likely aware that political prisoners were being used to supplement labor, the report found.

The former East Germany was occupied by the Soviet Union from 1949 to 1990, during which a rigid communist state known as the German Democratic Republic or GDR was installed. Tens of thousands of prisoners were forced into factory labor, making it a major location for cheap labor that would have benefited many Western companies.

Many political prisoners in the GDR are said to have been locked up for the simple “crime” of resisting the communist one-party state. Resistance against the state was suppressed by the feared Stasi secret police in East Germany spied on almost every aspect of people’s daily lives.

In a statement this week, IKEA Germany announced it would voluntarily donate 6 million euros to the new government fund set up to provide compensation to the victims of the East German dictatorship.

After decades of campaigning by victims’ groups, Germany’s ruling coalition government proposed setting up the hardship fund in 2021. The German parliament will vote on its creation in the coming weeks, although the move is seen as just a formality.

The IKEA statement adds that the payment is the result of years of discussions between the company’s German division and the Union of Victims’ Associations of Communist Dictatorship (UOGK) – an organization that describes itself as an organization that ensures that those who have been wrongly convicted in communist Germany, justice in the current constitutional state.

In a statement to CNN, Walter Kadner, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA Germany, said: “We deeply regret that products for IKEA were also produced by political prisoners in the GDR. Since it became known, IKEA has consistently worked to clarify the situation.

“We have given our word to those affected that we will participate in providing support. We are therefore pleased with the introduction of the hardship fund and are pleased that we can fulfill our promise.”

IKEA’s milestone payment is the first of its kind. The move is welcomed by organizations that advocate for victims.

Dieter Dombrowski, the chairman of UOGK, described the development as ‘groundbreaking’.

“After it became known that the company was involved in forced prison labor, IKEA accepted our invitation to talk. Together we have embarked on the path of enlightenment and IKEA has responded equally to those affected.”

“We hope that other companies will follow IKEA’s example,” Dombrowski added.

According to UOGK, IKEA is one of many companies that have benefited from forced labor in communist Germany. Former UOKG president Rainer Wagner warned in 2012 that IKEA is “just the tip of the iceberg” when he called on companies to compensate former prisoners who still bear the psychological scars of incarceration and forced labor.

Evelyn Zupke, Special Representative for GDR Victims in the German Parliament, said: “IKEA’s pledge to support the hardship fund is an expression of a responsible approach to dealing with dark chapters in the company’s own history.

“We cannot undo what prisoners in the GDR prisons have suffered, but we can treat them with respect and support them today.”

For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com