Volkswagen and the Dictatorship: The German Automaker’s Collaboration with the Repression of Workers During the Brazilian Civil-Military Regime

Abstract

The article questions the relationship of Volkswagen and the Brazilian civil-military regime formed after the 1964 coup. We analyze, in particular, the German automaker’s collaboration with the regime’s repressive apparatus since state surveillance and control agencies were provided with information about the company’s workers. We use company sources, documents from security agencies held in public archives, and materials produced by workers and unions, as well as testimonies and reports from truth commissions. The study is part of the discussion of the relationship between the business community and the Brazilian dictatorship, indicating the close intersection between large companies and the state apparatus in the period and indeed their insertion in this, which often included collaboration with the State’s repressive methods.