Nazi collaborator monuments in Brazil
A street named after a Nazi Party member who used slave labor during World War II
Swastika draped over Coburg City Hall, Coburg. Image by Lev Golinkin
By Lev Golinkin July 21, 2025
This list is part of an ongoing investigative project the Forward first published in January 2021 documenting hundreds of monuments around the world that honor people involved in the Holocaust. We are continuing to update each country’s list; if you know of any not included here, or of statues that have been removed or streets renamed, please email [email protected], subject line: Nazi monument project.
São José dos Pinhais – There is a street in Brazil honoring Max Brose (1884–1968), Nazi Party member whose automotive company in Coburg, Germany used slave labor during World War II; some of the slaves, which included prisoners of war, were used to produce supplies for the German armed forces. Brose himself was appointed Wehrwirtschaftsführer (economic leader), a title given to business tycoons behind the Third Reich war machine. Above left, Brose in Nazi uniform.
The street bearing Brose’s name is located near the Brazil branch of his company, today called Brose Fahrzeuge. The firm has been rehabilitating Brose’s image into that of an industrial titan who deserved to be celebrated. In 2015, Brose’s billionaire grandson, who is the CEO of Brose Fahzeuge, successfully lobbied to have a street named in the company’s global headquarters in Coburg. This was done despite the vociferous protests from Germany’s largest organized Jewish community.
It’s unclear whether naming a street for a Nazi Party member violates Brazilian law. In 2023, the government cracked down on neo-Nazism, with the justice minister promising, “If you mention Nazism, neo-Nazism, threaten a school or say you will attack a school, we will call for your arrest,” per The New York Times.
There are seven Max Brose streets around the world, each one located in a town that houses a Brose Fahrzeuge division. See the Canada, Germany, Mexico and Slovakia sections for more Brose streets.
See coverage in the Financial Times, Focus Online (Google translation here), inFranken.de (Google translation here) and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Google translation here and here). See New York Times coverage of an art world scandal regarding the Nazi fortune of Brose’s great-granddaughter.
