Süddeutsche Zeitung was the first paper to be licensed in Bavaria (1945) by the Allied occupation authorities following the end of World War II. The newspaper was founded by Edmund Goldschagg, Franz Joseph Schöningh, and August Schwingenstein as a twice-weekly publication, using the press of the prewar Münchner Neueste Nachrichten. With the damaged press rehabilitated and with a former executive of the prewar paper as publishing director, the paper thrived, quickly becoming a national publication. As soon as enough newsprint was available, the paper went to thrice-weekly and, in 1949, daily publication.
Süddeutsche Zeitung won readers by its careful and accurate presentation of news and by its forthright stands on sensitive issues. In 1946 it inaugurated a front-page column, “Das Streiflicht” (“The Spotlight”), featuring a concise treatment of an important story. In the 1950s the paper—under the name Süddeutscher Verlag GmBH—moved into book publishing and came to occupy an important place in that industry in West Germany.