Brose completed his education in business administration at age 24 in 1908, after which he established his own trading business for automotive accessories and aircraft materials. Brose was drafted into the German army during World War I. At the end of the war, Lieutenant Brose, who had fought in Germany's motorized forces on the
Western Front, was sent to East Prussia to help take down a truck depot. There he met chemist
Ernst Jühling, who would become his business partner. In late spring 1919 they acquired a former metal parts factory in
Coburg, a small town in northern Bavaria, and founded Metallwerk Max Brose & Co. OHG, known informally as Max Brose Metal Works. In 1928, following a suggestion by
Opel founder
Wilhelm von Opel, Brose acquired a manufacturing license for spring-wound brakes, a major component of window regulators, from an American firm. Within a few years, the company evolved as a major supplier of window regulators to German automakers
Daimler-Benz,
Volkswagen,
Borgward, and Lloyd. In the early 1920s, Brose was a member of the liberal
German People's Party as a city council member in Coburg. He later became a member of the national-conservative
German National People's Party, which espoused antisemitic views. During the
Great Depression, Brose's company launched the standardized 20-liter gasoline canister. ==Nazi affiliation, activity during World War II==