19th century De Telegraaf was founded by , who simultaneously started another paper
De Courant (). The first issue appeared on 1 January 1893.
20th century Following Tindal's death on 31 January 1902 the printer
HMC Holdert, with backing from financiers, took over
De Telegraaf and
De Courant on 12 September 1902. This proved to be a good investment, particularly with regard to
De Courant, enabling Holdert between 1903 and 1923 to take over one newspaper after another, suspending publication as he went. He added the name
Amsterdamsche Courant ("Amsterdam Gazette") as a subtitle to
De Telegraaf, and
Het Nieuws van den Dag ("The News of the Day") to
De Courant. During
World War I, when the Netherlands was officially
neutral, Holdert's
French sympathies and his pro-
British standpoint caused
De Telegraaf to be the focus of some controversy, as the Netherlands were usually pro-German at the time. In 1926, Holdert began construction of a new printing facility at the
Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal in Amsterdam, designed by
J. F. Staal and
G. J. Langhout. Construction was completed and the building occupied in 1930. During
World War II, the Telegraaf companies published pro-
Nazi German papers, which led to a thirty-year ban on publishing after the war. The prohibition was lifted in 1949 and
De Telegraaf flourished anew to become the biggest newspaper in the Netherlands. At one point, in June 1966, the Telegraaf building was besieged by angry construction workers and
Provo followers, after a false report that a victim of a labour dispute had been killed not by the police but by a co-worker. In 1974,
De Telegraaf moved to a new location on the
Basisweg. In 1995–1996
De Telegraaf had a circulation of 760,000 copies, making it the best-selling paper in the country.
De Courant/Nieuws van de Dag ceased publication in 1998. In 1999, the circulation of the paper was 808,000 copies, making it the ninth best-selling European newspaper.
21st century De Telegraaf was the eighth top European newspaper with a circulation of 807,000 copies in 2001.
De Telegraaf changed from
broadsheet to
compact format in October 2014. In 2014, was , dropping to in 2015. Distribution had been reduced to 393,537 in 2017. On 26 June 2018, a delivery van intentionally rammed into the office building of
De Telegraaf, catching fire afterwards which was probably started by the driver who made his getaway with another car. The building took considerable damage. Police believe the attack was done within organized crime circles; four days earlier the building of
Panorama was also a target, possibly because both publications write about serious crime. ==Editorial content==