I'm incensed about this. As if neocon nursery rhymes about left wing Hitler weren't enough the opposition is also making noise about Nazies and now we have single digit IQ debates about war crimes and responsibility. The Army is celebrating a LITERAL NAZI; the Army is celebrating the NAZI ARMY.

Rio de Janeiro's Israelite Federation "laments and vehemently rejects" the homage to an officer "who was part of the Nazi troops, responsible for the deaths of 20 million people, among them blacks, Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the physically handicapped and Brazilian soldiers".

The homage is said to be "ironic" and an insult to our troops who fought in Italy. Veterans were still in the ranks in the 60s and didn't feel bothered at the time, because they weren't petty to want to ostracize their vanquished enemies forever. He was invited by the Army itself and civilians half a century later think they know better.
The event is said to be a "gaffe" or a "defeat" for Bolsonaro. Yet the message was issued by the Army, an apolitical institution, and not the President, his cabinet, aides or party. Bolsonaro has been a civilian for decades.
As expected, much was said of the Wehrmacht's war crimes. None are known to have been committed by Maximilian, who was received back in Germany with open arms. The FRG was full of veterans in positions of importance.
Not a lot is said of the fact that a communist guerilla was conducting assassinations.

One news site cites a historian and university professor who asks why the Army didn't pay homage to a dead Red Army soldier and goes on about "the brillianece of Germans doesn't fit in reality" and Soviet "brilliance freeing the world of Nazism". A historian and yet he can't understand the context. The Army isn't running a wartime military strength comparison or paying homage to war machines. It's remembering a murdered student in one of its courses, just that. There are no murdered Red Army students to be remembered in ECEME. A murdered student from the Bundeswehr, not the Wehrmacht.

Much scrutiny has fallen on the Army's description of Germany as a Friendly Nation (capitalized, as it's one of their formal terms). Of course it was. Otto represented the Bundeswehr and the Federal Republic of Germany, a Friendly Nation and part of the same side in the Cold War. That's the point, the Army is just remembering its friendship with the Bundeswehr and the FRG.
He was remembered well and had his name on a room and a bronze plaque at ECEME. In 1968 nobody knew local communists were responsible for his death, so it wasn't out of political exploitation.

The Army refuses to retract their message and it's still up:
http://www.eb.mil.br/web/noticias/fatos-historicos/-/asset_publisher/QKzf8DsobUm1/content/tributo-ao-major-eduard-ernest-thilo-otto-maximilian-von-westernhagen-oficial-alemao-assassinado-no-brasil-por-um-ato-terrorista-em-1968