Debate earnestly,
act decisively

The ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS is committed to promoting an active and open civil society. Towards this end, it supports a culture of debate. For it is only through debate – by wrestling with different ideas, by weighing the value in divergent perspectives, by embracing genuine exchange – that we can learn from one another and breathe life into our fundamental democratic values.

Accordingly, the foundation focuses on areas characterized by tension and transition. Through the numerous projects that we sponsor and organize, we aim to initiate and foster change. Whether relating to the sciences, culture, education, politics, society or the media, we defend individual and societal liberty, create space for expression and offer necessary orientation. In this way, we empower individuals and encourage them to become advocates for an open society.

Based on these convictions, the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS founded Bucerius Law School in 2000, Germany’s first foundation-endowed law school. It also promotes academic freedom and science communication and extends scholarships to junior researchers. The foundation paves the way for educational success and lifelong learning with the mentoring program WEICHENSTELLUNG (“Setting the Course”), a project featuring many partners and reaching beyond the borders of Hamburg. Further, the foundation is actively engaged in strengthening independent media in Eastern Europe and, no less, in defending freedom of the press in Germany, thereby strengthening independent reporting and the free flow of information.

The Bucerius Kunst Forum, established in 2002 as an international exhibition venue in the heart of Hamburg, underscores the importance of the foundation’s “Art and Culture” division. The foundation has a keen interest in preserving culture, and it participates in the safeguarding of important cultural monuments; support is provided to promising talent in the fields of theater, music, and art. In terms of its international activities, the promotion of intercultural dialogue is a central aim, whereby particular emphasis is placed on Central and Eastern Europe and providing support to the Bucerius Institute at the University of Haifa in Israel. The Bucerius Summer School brings international leaders from all over the world together in Hamburg. The foundation’s “Politics” division focuses on the role of civil society, particularly in East Germany.

Our founders, Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius, believed that skillful intervention and fearless engagement were essential for a democratic society. This vision shaped their design of the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, and it was in this same spirit, in 1971, that Gerd Bucerius founded the ZEIT-Stiftung (today the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS) as a voice and forum for an introspective civil society. From 1997 to 2022, Michael Göring was a member of the ZEIT-Stiftung’s executive board and later its chair. Among other initiatives, he oversaw the founding of the Bucerius Law School and the Bucerius Kunst Forum and established projects such as the Bucerius Summer School and the WEICHENSTELLUNG mentoring program. From 2010 to 2021, Michael Berndt was chief financial officer of the ZEIT-Stiftung and played a key role in shaping the foundation. Manuel Hartung has been chair of the executive board of the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS since 2022; Achim Lange took over as chairman Finance, Administration, Human Resources in 2021.

Inquisitive, dialogue-oriented, tolerant, open-minded and feisty: these are the values underlying the culture of debate that the foundation has resolutely supported since its inception.

“Genuine freedom means risk” – Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius

Tireless intervention, defending the rights of others, fighting for what you believe, the willingness to be a nuisance, understanding when freedom was threatened: These are the principles that Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius lived, worked and acted under. For Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius, a democratic society and an unapologetic culture of debate were not contradictory; to the contrary, they went hand-in-hand. Both of them acted on this conviction throughout their lives. In 1971, more than fifty years ago, Gerd Bucerius founded the ZEIT-Stiftung, now the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS, with the aim of promoting an open and active civil society.

Gerd and Ebelin Bucerius were pioneers. He, the multi-talent who even before his career as a publisher and founder was already a successful lawyer, politician, journalist and entrepreneur.  She, a woman who left her incomparable mark on the ZEIT publishing house in Hamburg as managing director from 1951. They married in 1947. One year earlier, Gerd Bucerius had co-founded the weekly newspaper ZEIT; later he acquired a majority stake in the magazine "Stern".

Born in 1906, Gerd Bucerius had enough drive for several lifetimes. His rebellious, sharp mind was evident from an early age: already in 1924, Bucerius had criticized bourgeois society and the German empire in his thesis concluding his pre-university studies. After studying law, he worked – from 1932 – as a lawyer in his father's law firm, also defending Jewish clients during the Nazi era. In 1946, after the end of the war, he became a building and construction senator in Hamburg. He joined the Frankfurt Economic Council in 1948, and a year later he took his place in the first German Bundestag as a pugnacious member of the CDU.

Gerd and Ebelin – born Anna Gertrud Müller – had met previously in occupied France After their marriage, her straightforward manner and wit helped her transform their shared Bonn domicile into a social meeting place. In 1962, Gerd Bucerius resigned from the CDU in the wake of the "Hellfire Affair – a conflict which saw him place freedom of the press above his own party-based political involvement.

For many years, Ebelin Bucerius managed with great skill the publishing house that was responsible for producing DIE ZEIT, the print product undoubtedly most important to her husband – and its publisher – Gerd. Together, they also mastered difficult economic times. For Gerd, such financial struggle was an inherent element of the tasks at hand: “Genuine freedom means risk.” Decades of losses at the weekly newspaper could be offset only by selling the Stern magazine. In 1965, Gerd Bucerius invested his majority stake in the publishing house of Gruner und Jahr. He later exchanged these shares for stock in Bertelsmann. Ultimately, he was able to separate DIE ZEIT from the Bertelsmann Group and continued to run it, now through its own publishing house – the Zeitverlag. As publisher, advisor and publicist, he remained closely linked with the newspaper and repeatedly contributed essays as a “confrontational spirit”. Shortly before his death, he specified the sale of the paper to the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a direction carried out by the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS in 1996.

After the death of Gerd Bucerius (1995) and Ebelin Bucerius (1997), their assets went to the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS, which was tasked with acting in their spirit and interests. Together, they created a lasting legacy for freedom and democracy that is today more important than ever. Ralf Dahrendorf's biography “Liberal und unabhängig. Gerd Bucerius und seine Zeit” offers a comprehensive look at the life and work of these two special people. It is their understanding of social commitment that the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS has promoted and implemented since its establishment, advancing their vision with passionately designed projects, initiatives and events.