Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, the Swedish furniture giant, was identified as a Nazi by the Swedish Security Service in 1943 during WWII, Swedish television SVT reported, citing a book by of one of its journalists.
The author of And in Wienerwald the Trees Remain, Elisabeth Asbrink, writes about the life of Otto Ullmann, who came to Sweden from Vienna with a group of Jewish children, and was placed with the Kamprad family. He became friends with Ingvar Kamprad and helped him in the foundation and development of IKEA.
Kamprad is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, and IKEA is one of the best-known Swedish companies.
Kamprad, whose Nazi sympathies became known to the public in the 1990s, had previously written off the troubling period of his life as a passing instance of "teenage confusion."
"It is a little odd that Ingvar Kamprad has not himself come out with this information. He has said that he wants to tell, and to say sorry," Asbrink told SVT' news.
Asbrink discovered previously unknown materials about Kamprad, particularly in that he had a personal file set up with the Swedish intelligence when he was 17 years old and devoted much time and energy to recruiting new members to the Nazi party. Kamprad also participated in the far-right New Swedish Movement created in the 1930s. Many Swedes regarded this movement as the party akin to German and Italian fascists.
The book describes how Kamprad's contacts with the far-right New Swedish Movement and their leader Per Engdahl continued long after the conclusion of WWII.
The Swedish television clarified that Kamprad stepped away from the idea of massive annihilation and condemned the Holocaust, but kept his critical attitude toward democratic principles and remained adherent to the idea of a strong leadership. He helped many Norwegian and Swedish Nazis evade trial, according to Swedish journalists.
The IKEA founder described Engdahl, a leading Swedish Nazi politician, as "a great man. This I will maintain as long as I live."
Kamprad was born in 1926. He established IKEA in 1943. He has not yet made any comments on the new information published in Asbrink`s book.
