IKEA, the Fourth Reich, and the Rise of a Global Superpower

Shortly before the end of World War II many German scientists and engineers defected to the United States or the nascent Soviet Union. In return for their research under the Third Reich, these men and women were given amnesty and encouraged to pursue their work in jet propulsion, atomics, and other sources of human misery. A select few, however, headed north towards Sweden, having been recruited by another entity with a much more subtle approach to global domination.

With over 400 stores in 63 countries, it would have been difficult to predict the global influence that IKEA would have given its humble beginning. Surmising, correctly, that the Second Great War was coming to a close in the European theater IKEA took advantage of the coming peace and registered as an import/export business in 1943. The company ran a profitable business selling small household goods like pens, nylons, and watches but its real purpose was research into the burgeoning fields of psychological warfare and mind control.

Exploiting international connections through the company’s import/export business IKEA began recruiting the intellectual capital fleeing Germany. Desperate to avoid the onslaught of the advancing Russian Army and abduction into the Soviet complex these scientists unwittingly jumped from the frying pan and directly into the fire of international espionage.

…the rise of the Iron Curtain and the ensuing isolation of Eastern Europe the years following WWII were good to IKEA.

Despite some minor supply issues, the rise of the Iron Curtain and the ensuing isolation of Eastern Europe the years following WWII were good to IKEA. Knowing that the future lay in capitalizing on efficiency the company focused on streamlining its production model as well as its distribution system. These efficiencies allowed the company to switch focus from household trinkets to a venture better suited towards its devious ends: mid-century modern furniture. The new design aesthetic proved to be wildly popular and propelled IKEA’s reach into a global market and, ultimately, our homes and hearts.

For the next few decades, IKEA continued to run a profitable legitimate business while the economic ideologies of capitalism and communism battled on the global stage. Meanwhile, in the remote recesses of Aulmult, Sweden the former German scientists advanced their knowledge in the fields of psychology and sociology to further IKEA’s interest in mass mind control. At first, their experiments were crude. These nascent attempts focused on forcing subjects through a brutal regimen of psychedelics and conditioning to achieve the desired outcome. Later, however, IKEA learned that it could achieve the same effect through more subtle means.

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About the Author

derekbremer Prior to his life as a stay at home father Derek spent more than a decade performing public relations and marketing functions for financial consulting firms and found the job to be precisely as exciting as it sounds. When not tending to his wife or daughter Derek enjoys subjecting the public to his unique take on fatherhood, travel and animal husbandry. He has been published in Scary Mommy, Sammiches and Psych Meds, The Good Men Project, HowToBeADad, Red Tricycle, RAZED, HPP and the Anthology "It's Really Ten Months Special Delivery: A Collection of Stories from Girth to Birth.