.svg) | |
 Front page ofTrouw on 27 March 2010 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Compact |
| Owner(s) | DPG Media[1] |
| Editor-in-chief | Cees van der Laan[2] |
| Founded | 18 February 1943; 82 years ago (1943-02-18) |
| Language | Dutch |
| Headquarters | Jacob Bontiusplaats 9[3] |
| City | Amsterdam |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Circulation | 102,631 (as of 2017)[4] |
| Website | trouw |
Trouw (Dutch pronunciation:[trʌu]ⓘ;lit."loyal", "true") is a Dutchdaily newspaper appearing incompact size. It was founded in 1943 as an orthodoxProtestantunderground newspaper duringWorld War II. Since 2009, it has been owned byDPG Media (known as De Persgroep until 2019).Trouw received theEuropean Newspaper Award in 2012.[5][6] Cees van der Laan is the currenteditor-in-chief.[2]
Trouw is aDutch word meaning "fidelity", "loyalty", or "allegiance", and is cognate with the English adjective "true". The name was chosen to reflect allegiance and loyalty to God and country in spite of theGerman occupation of the Netherlands.
Trouw was started duringWorld War II by members of theDutchProtestantresistance against theGerman occupation. Hundreds of people involved in the production and distribution of the newspaper were arrested and killed during the war. The newspaper was published irregularly during the war due to lack of paper. In 1944 the German forces tried to stop publication by rounding up and imprisoning some 23 of the couriers. They issued an ultimatum to the leaders ofTrouw; however, the editors did not give in and all of the captured couriers were executed. Amongst the people that lost their life during the war due to their involvement with the newspaper was Trouw co-founder and resistance memberWim Speelman [nl].[7]
After the war the paper became a daily, its allegiance to theReformed Churches in the Netherlands. By 1967, though, the paper's chief editor made it clear thatTrouw was not to be considered a paper only for Christians: it wanted to be a paper for everyone. In the course of time the percentage ofTrouw readers that belong to the Reformed churches shrank considerably: in 1965 69% of readers belonged to one of those churches, but by 1979 this had dropped to 48%, and by 1999 to 28%. In their own words, in 2005, they intended to "remain a newspaper rooted in a Christian tradition and to be a source of contemplation and inspiration for everyone, churchgoer or not, who feels a need for moral and spiritual orientation."[8]
Circulation at the end of the 20th century was a little over 133,000.[9] On 3 February 2005,Trouw changed its format frombroadsheet tocompact.[10]
Currently,Trouw is a part of the De Persgroep Nederland, the name given to the former PCM group after the Belgian publishing houseDe Persgroep bought a majority stake in PCM in the summer of 2009.NRC Handelsblad,Het AD,Het Parool andde Volkskrant are also owned by De Persgroep Nederland. NRC Handelsblad was sold before the summer of 2010.[citation needed]
Media related toTrouw at Wikimedia Commons
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