Die Zeit (German pronunciation:[diːˈtsaɪt],lit. 'The Time') is a German nationalweekly newspaper published inHamburg in Germany.^[3][4] The newspaper is generally considered to be among the Germannewspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles.^[5]

Die Zeit

The 7 October 2006 front page ofDie Zeit
Type	Weekly newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius GmbH & Co. KG (Holtzbrinck family through DvH Medien GmbH 50%,Holtzbrinck Publishing Group 50%)
Editor	Giovanni di Lorenzo
Founded	21 February 1946; 79 years ago (1946-02-21)
Political alignment	Centre-left Liberal[1]
Headquarters	Hamburg
Circulation	574,492 (Print, 2020) 186,062 (Digital, 2020)[2]
ISSN	0044-2070
Website	www.zeit.de

The first edition ofDie Zeit was first published in Hamburg on 21 February 1946.^[6][7] The founding publishers wereGerd Bucerius,Lovis H. Lorenz,Richard Tüngel andEwald Schmidt di Simoni.Marion Gräfin Dönhoff joined as an editor in March 1946. She became publisher ofDie Zeit from 1972 until her death in 2002. In 1983 she was joined by formerGerman chancellorHelmut Schmidt. LaterJosef Joffe and former German federal secretary of cultureMichael Naumann joined them as well.

The paper's publishing house,Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius in Hamburg, is owned by theGeorg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group andDieter von Holtzbrinck Media. The paper is published weekly on Thursdays.^[8]

As of 2018,Die Zeit has additional offices inBrussels,Dresden, Frankfurt, Moscow, New York City, Paris,Istanbul, Washington, D.C., andVienna. In 2018, it re-opened an office in Beijing.^[9]

Gerd Bucerius was a founding member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 1945, Bucerius envisioned Die Zeit as a platform to promote knowledge, culture, and democratic values in a recovering Germany. Through the ZEIT-Stiftung (the Bucerius Foundation), he supported various cultural, educational, and social projects, fostering academic research and democratic engagement. After losing his position as a judge in 1933 due to the rise of the Nazis, Bucerius and his first wife, who was Jewish, fled to the United Kingdom, where he continued his legal practice, defending numerous Jewish clients and others targeted by the Nazi regime.^[10]

Lovis H. Lorenz was an art historian, journalist, and writer from Hamburg. He was granted a license by the British occupation authorities, which facilitated the founding ofDie Zeit. His contributions to the newspaper are less documented, as he left the circle of partners at an early stage. His background in editing prior to the war provided essential experience for the newspaper's early development.^[11]

Marion Gräfin Dönhoff was a German anti-Nazi journalist and publisher who joinedDie Zeit as an editor shortly after its founding in 1946. Dönhoff played a significant role in the 1944 assassination attempt against Hitler and became an advocate for German reconciliation with Eastern Europe. Dönhoff's contributions helped shapeDie Zeit into a platform for liberal thought, and she remained influential in German journalism until her death in 2002.^[12] She played an essential role in shaping the newspaper's liberal stance and editorial direction, advocating for German reconciliation with Eastern Europe.^[13]

Ewald Schmidt di Simoni was a publishing salesman in the 1930s who was later banned from his profession because he was married to a Jewish woman. After the war he was granted a license by the British for his services, contributing to the establishment ofDie Zeit.^[14]

Richard Tüngel was Hamburg's city planning officer until he was dismissed by the National Socialists in 1933. He co-foundedDie Zeit and served as its second editor-in-chief. After publishing an article by Carl Schmitt, a former Nazi lawyer,Marion Gräfin Dönhoff resiged in protest. Bucerius ultimately decided to remove Tüngel from his position 1956.^[15]

• 1946:Ernst Samhaber
• 1946–1955:Richard Tüngel
• 1957–1968:Josef Müller-Marein
• 1968–1972:Marion Gräfin Dönhoff
• 1973–1992:Theo Sommer
• 1992–1997:Robert Leicht
• 1997–2001:Roger de Weck
• 2001–2004:Josef Joffe andMichael Naumann
• 2004–present:Giovanni di Lorenzo

The paper is considered to behighbrow.^[16] Its political direction is centrist and liberal^[7] orleft-liberal.^[17]

Die Zeit often publishes dossiers, essays, third-party articles and excerpts of lectures of different authors emphasising their points of view on a single aspect or topic in one or in consecutive issues. It is known for its very large physical paper format (Nordisch) and its long and detailed articles.

Die Zeit is divided into different sections, some of which are:

• Politik (politics)
• Streit (dispute)
• Dossier (dossier)
• Geschichte (history)
• Wirtschaft (economy)
• Wissen (science)
• Feuilleton (features)
• Zeitmagazin

The masthead lettering in the weeklyDie Zeit with its elegant font was designed byCarl Otto Czeschka in 1946. Czeschka was inspired by the British daily newspaperThe Times which shows theBritish national coat of arms in betweenThe andTimes. This was not only for graphic reasons, it also represented the founder's self-conception which he published in an editorial called "Unsere Aufgabe" ("Our Mission") on 21 February 1946.

The very first version of Czeschka's design, which included theHamburg crest, was used from the first edition (published on 21 February 1946) to the 12th edition (published on 9 May 1946). Other than the official coat of arms this crest featured peacock's feathers with little hearts on them. Additionally, the position of the lions' legs first resembled those of the old great coat of arms. The positions were changed in 1952. Regardless of this tiny difference, the crest was viewed as the greatHamburg coat of arms by the Hamburg Senate and was therefore considered a national emblem. Upon this, the crest was revised: An open gate was supposed to be incorporated to represent the cosmopolitanism of the hanseatic city. However, the Senate also declined this version that was printed in editions 13 to 18, as it was viewed a misuse of anational emblem for commercial purposes, which is still prohibited to this day. To avoid another prohibition,Zeit Magazin changed its masthead on 27 June 1946, into theCoat of arms of Bremen: The key and the golden crown of the city coat of arms, which was approved byWilhelm Kaisen, the mayor ofBremen. This happened as a result of the mediation from Josef Müller-Marein who later became the editorial director ofDie Zeit. The design with theBremer Schlüssel in its masthead was also designed by Carl Otto Czeschka and is used as the logo of the whole publishing group today. With the demand from Ernst Samhaber, the Hamburg artistAlfred Mahlau had created the whole first edition which had a five-column break. The edition was printed in the printing house Broscheck in Hamburg. At the same time, Czeschka had also drawn the headlines of the first edition for the different sections of the newspaper. The articles ofDie Zeit and, especially the leading articles on the first page, are traditionally longer and more detailed than the ones of a daily newspaper. However, in the past few years many articles have been noticeably shorter and include more pictures. Since the redesign by Mario Garcia in January 1998, the headlines have been printed inTiemann-Antiqua. The running texts are printed inGaramond, a font that is very frequently used in books.

Die Zeit did not join the discussion about the return of the traditionalGerman orthography, which was led byDer Spiegel,Süddeutsche Zeitung andBild. Starting in 1999, the newspaper used its in-house orthography which derived from the traditional orthography as well as from the different versions of the reformed orthography, which were edited by Dieter E. Zimmer. Since 2007,Die Zeit refrained from using the in-house orthography and started following the recommendations of theDuden. Thenordisch format, a trademark of the newspaper, has always been addressed in literature and cabaret—mostly in satirical form. According to Hanns Dieter HüscheDie Zeit is "so groß, wenn man die aufschlägt, muss der Nachbar gleich zum Zahnarzt" (lit. 'so big, if you open it, the neighbour must go to the dentist immediately'). In reality however, the format is not bigger than that of a dozen otherGerman newspapers.Die Zeit isprinted by the Frankfurter Societäts-Druckerei GmbH in Mörfelden-Walldorf. TheDeutscher Pressevertrieb, based in Hamburg, is in charge of the distribution of the newspapers.

TheZeitmagazin was first published as a supplement in 1970 and later discontinued in 1999.Die Zeit then introduced the sectionLeben (English: Lifestyle). Since 24 May 2007,Die Zeit reintroduced theZeitmagazin.For the supplement's 40th birthday,Die Zeit published a 100-page anniversary issue, including 40 different covers – one for each year.

The 1993 circulation ofDie Zeit was 500,000 copies.^[18] With a circulation of 504,072 for the second half of 2012^[19] and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper. It reached 520,000 copies in the first quarter of 2013.^[20]

Zeit Online is run by Zeit Online GmbH, a fully owned subsidiary of the publishing companyZeitverlag. The independent editorial office consists of around 70 editors, graphic designers and technicians. Upon 1 February 2009,Zeit Online,Tagesspiegel Online andzoomer.de were merged intoZeit Digital with one joint editorial office inBerlin. Only some editors as well as the technology and the marketing departments remained inHamburg.Zoomer.de was discontinued in February 2009, and the editorial office ofTagesspiegel Online was handed back toTagesspiegel in September 2009. In 2017,Die Zeit was among the most quoted sources in German Wikipedia. At present, it is one of the 100 most visited websites in Germany.

The content is categorized into four section groups that each consist of one or more sections, as follows:

• Politics, Economy and Society
• Culture and Discovery
• Knowledge & Digital
• Sports

Since April 2014,Zeit Online has also been publishing a local section for Hamburg.

In a survey of German literature blogs, the literature section ofZeit Online was rated as the best portal, better than the literature section ofDer Spiegel,Süddeutsche Zeitung andFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, amongst others.

On 2 November 2012,Zeit Online launched a Content API which is available for software developers.

Prior to 2017,Die Zeit experienced a significant increase in clicks on their website. In March 2017, Z+ was launched and so was a payment model for the new product. Since then, some of the content has only been available after payment.

In January 2019, the website was visited 75.1 million times. On average, 2.34 pages were opened per visit.

Gero von Randow, a formerDie Zeit editor, was the editor-in-chief until February 2008. The journalist Wolfgang Blau took over his position in March of that year. When Blau joinedThe Guardian in April 2013, Jochen Wegner subsequently took over, and has been in charge since 15 March 2013. Before that, he had been the editor-in-chief atFocus Online from 2006 to 2010.

Being part of the same publishing group,Die Zeit and Berliner Tagesspiegel decided to cooperate in September 2006. Since then, they have been exchanging and sharing some of their online content. Zeit has similar relationships with other German online news portals such asHandelsblatt andGolem.de.

In June 2008,Zeit Online started a cooperation withZDF and broadcast their news in a display format called100 Sekunden (English: 100 seconds). Starting in 2018, the online presence ofbrand eins andZeit Online were merged and are now marketed together.

Between 2005 and 2009,Zeit Online introducedZünder (igniter) which was an online platform for young adults in Germany between the ages of 16 and 25.

Zeit Campus Online started in 2006 as an online version of the printed magazineZeit Campus.

In 2007,Zeit Online started a cooperation with the music magazineIntro, the unionGesicht Zeigen! (show your face!), and the agencyWE DO as well as the moderators Markus Kavka, Ole Tillmann andKlaas Heufer-Umlauf. The project is calledStörungsmelder (trouble reporting) and is directed against right-wing extremism.

On 5 May 2008,Zeit Online started a project in cooperation with partners such as theGerman Football Association, the German Fire Department Association, the VZ-networks, theZDF and theGerman Olympic Sports Confederation to start the online platformNetz gegen Nazis (English: Web against Nazis). The web portal was subject to criticism from the journalists. This was based on the platform not providing new information and only arguing superficially. On 1 January 2009,Die Zeit withdrew their contribution to the project and handed over administration to theAmadeu Antonio Foundation. The project has since been renamed toBelltower.News.

On 27 July 2015, the publishing house started a new online format calledze.tt, aimed at young readers who spend a large amount of time on social-media.

Die Zeit has publishedZeitmagazin International (sometimes also referred to asThe Berlin State of Mind) twice a year since 2013. It contains articles from the weekly magazine that accompanies the newspaper, translated into English.

A selection of stories are published in English.^[21]

In June 2019, theZeit Online was awarded with theBig Brother Award in the categoryconsumer protection.^[22]

• ZEIT-Stiftung

• Official website (in German)