In 1911,
Frans Van Cauwelaert founded
Ons Volk Ontwaakt, the weekly journal of the Flemish Catholic student organization. In 1914, Van Cauwelaert, Alfons Van de Perre, and Arnold Hendrix formed a publishing company,
De Standaard N.V. ("The Standard, Incorporated": the Standard Group). Their goal was to publish a conservative,
Catholic, Flemish daily newspaper in
Brussels, to be called . The motto of was
Alles voor Vlaanderen - Vlaanderen voor Kristus ("Everything for Flanders - Flanders for Christ"), abbreviated
AVV-VVK.
AVV-VVK appeared in 's front-page banner until 1999. The first edition was to appear on 22 November 1914, but publication was cancelled due to the outbreak of
World War I. did not appear until 4 December 1918, after the war ended.
Gustave Sap, who joined the board of directors in 1919, provided the necessary capital for its initial expansion. The paper was started as a
conservative daily with
Catholic values. In 1940, during the
Second World War, Belgium was occupied by
Nazi Germany. again ceased publication. However, a new paper,
Het Algemeen Nieuws ("The General News") was published with 's staff and presses, printing only what the Nazi occupation government permitted. After the liberation of Belgium in 1944, the management of Standard Group was accused of
collaboration with the Nazi occupiers, and the company was banned for two years. A new company was therefore created:
De Gids N.V. ("The Guide, Inc."), which began publishing
De Nieuwe Standaard ("The New Standard") in November 1944. Older titles of the Standaard group were also continued by De Gids. In 1947, the ban on Standard Group was removed, and with court permission the company reclaimed all its titles.
De Nieuwe Standaard was immediately renamed
De Nieuwe Gids, and then, as of 1 May, again. In the 1960s and 1970s, was famous for its high-quality and independent foreign affairs coverage. For example, despite its Catholic and conservative ties, Since 30 September 1999 the newspaper has stopped printing the lettercross AVV-VVK on its frontpage. In March 2004, changed its format from traditional
broadsheet to
compact format. Unlike common practice for most of the newspapers this change occurred during its modernization process, not as a response to low circulation levels. ==Circulation==