Gerd Bucerius

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Gerd Bucerius (1906-1995) was a German politician and journalist, one of the founding members of Die Zeit. He is the namesake of the Bucerius Law School in Hamburg and of the Bucerius Kunst Forum, an art gallery.

Bucerius was born in Westphalia, and studied law in Freiburg, Berlin, and Hamburg. Upon completion of his unversity studies, he was named a judge in Kiel. With the rise to power of the Nazis in 1933, his wife, a Jew, took refuge in the United Kingdom. Bucerius for his part became a lawyer, defending numerous Jewish clients.

With the Allied victory in World War II, Bucerius became a politician and journalist. The British tasked him with the reorganization of the senate in Hamburg; in 1949 he was elected as a deputy to the first post-war Bundestag. A member of the CDU, he retained his seat until 1962. In 1946, with Lovis H. Lorenz, Richard Tüngel, and Ewald Schmidt di Simoni he created Die Zeit, with which they hoped to found a great newspaper for the north of Germany. Even though the emblem of Bremen was placed on its cover by way of a logo, the newspaper's city of origin was Hamburg. Hamburg refused the use of its city arms for the publication, and so those of another nearby municipality were used instead.

Bucerius is considered an important benefactor to Hamburg; upon the centenary of his birth chancellor Helmut Schmidt called him among the most influential citizens of the city. Upon his death his large fortune was handed over to the Berstelmann Group, which he had created in 1971 and which was renamed ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius upon his death. The funds held by the foundation are used for the promotion of scientific, educational, cultural. and artistic projects; the law school and the Kunst Forum are its most important projects.

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• This article was initially translated from the Wikipedia article Gerd Bucerius.