In 1856 , German writer and politician Leopold Sonnemann purchased a struggling market publication in Germany ; the '' Frankfurter Geschäftsbericht '' ( also known as '' Frankfurter Handelszeitung '' ) . Sonnemann changed its name to '' Neue Frankfurter Zeitung '' ( later simply '' Frankfurter Zeitung '' ) and assumed the duties of publisher , editor , and contributing writer . The new title incorporated political news and commentary , and by the time of the foundation of the German Empire in 1871 , the '' Frankfurter Zeitung '' had become an important mouthpiece of the liberal bourgeois extra-parliamentary opposition . It advocated peace in Europe before 1914 and during World War I . In Constantinople , Paul Weitz , a strong critic of German militarism and secret collaboration with the genocidal politics of the Young Turks , was the head of the bureau . His close associates included ; Max Rudolf Kaufmann , a Swiss born journalist , who was arrested and deported in 1916 for his criticism of German militarism and letters by him to Berlin which reported the deplorable state of the Turkish army in the Caucasus , and Dr. Friedrich Schrader , a journalist with ( in 1914 ) more than two decades of experience in Constantinople who commanded all major languages of Southeastern Europe and the Middle East , and contributed much about modern Turkish culture and literature . During the period of the Weimar Republic , the paper was treated with hostility and derision by nationalist circles , due to its pronounced favour of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 . At this time , it no longer stood in opposition to the government , and supported Gustav Stresemann 's policy of reconciliation
genocidal politics
Armenian Genocide
Frankfurter Zeitung