I remember when I read Lauren Collins's article about Ikea and its founder Ingvar Kamprad in the New Yorker last year, as I went along I kept thinking about Kamprad: "This guy's a Nazi." Meaning it figuratively, of course.
And then I got to the part reporting how, no, Kamprad was an actual Nazi. From a news story:
In 1999, Kamprad admitted his past involvement with Nazism in a book about his life and asked for forgiveness for his "stupidity." He also admitted to Swedish media that he had attended meetings of Nazi groups between 1945 and 1948.By 1945, it was reasonably clear that Nazism was not such a hot idea. Even 1935, Nazi involvement was perhaps more than mere stupidity, but by 1945-1948, it transcended stupidity.
But now we find this out. "Ikea regrets using prison labour":
Ikea used forced labour from political prisoners in the former East Germany for three decade...The Swedish group said it deeply regretted the use of political and other prisoners to produce furniture from 1960 to 1990, which was detailed in an investigation by Ernst & Young, the auditors. The investigation was commissioned by Ikea after media reports in Sweden and Germany...“We deeply regret that this could happen. The use of political prisoners in production has never been acceptable to the Ikea Group,” said Jeanette Skjelmose, a sustainability manager at Ikea.My goodness. Never been acceptable? Thirty years is never? Well, at least they're deeply regretful.
One of the many good things about my traditional Jewish education is the ability to recognize two types: the authoritarian and the brute. For insight on the brute, read about the Stasi prison at Hohenschönhausen. For a little insight about the forms the ongoing totalitarian project has taken, it might be useful to read about sustainable management.
No comments:
Post a Comment