True to the past, critical in the present

Eighty years after 23 Trouw employees were executed by the SS, our editorial team paused to reflect on their courage and sacrifice. In today’s turbulent times, with wars nearby and political unrest, we are – as a newspaper – once again faced with difficult choices. How should we respond to a government that collaborates with radical right-wing party PVV, and how do we strike the right balance between vigilance and open-mindedness in an era of growing polarisation? The new editors-in-chief of Trouw explain.

Chief editors Karel Smouter and Wendelmoet Boersema during the meeting at Kamp Vught.

or our editors, the most poignant moment of 2024 was undoubtedly the commemoration of the group of men often referred to as ‘the 23 of Trouw’.

Eighty years after 23 employees of the underground newspaper Trouw were executed by an SS firing squad, 23 of today’s editors gathered at the memorial near Kamp Vught to honour their memory. By reading aloud the names of these 23 individuals and sharing a letter from the editors-in-chief, we took a moment to honour the more than 200 creators and distributors of Trouw who lost their lives during the war – because of their dedication to our newspaper and the resistance group behind it.

This part of Trouw’s history has suddenly started to feel relevant again in recent years. With two wars on the edges of Europe and a government testing the very principle of democratic rule of law, these are once again turbulent times.

But let’s be clear: the dilemmas our editors face today are in no way comparable to those confronted by the Trouw editors in 1944. Our founders were forced to decide whether to continue publishing or to stop, in the hope that halting the paper might persuade the Germans to spare the lives of their employees. In 2025, we will launch the narrative podcast The Ultimatum exploring this story. The situation is certainly not the same today.

Read ‘Een hedendaagse strijd om geestelijke vrijheid’

Resistance

Still, the current era presents complex questions for us as a ‘newspaper of resistance’. For example, how do we as a newspaper relate to the new cabinet that came about with the support of the PVV? Should we – as some of our readers asked – speak out and rebel? Other readers felt that, right from the start, we were far too critical – some even said cynical – about this cabinet. They urged us to give the new cabinet a fair chance first, and to judge it based on its actions rather than assumptions.

Both groups of readers are somewhat right. A cabinet led by a party that has made the exclusion of certain groups its very raison d’être cannot be treated as business as usual. For a newspaper like ours, this means we are extra wary. Is the fate of minorities at stake? How can we ensure that what is precious yet vulnerable – be it nature reserves or, for instance, classical music – remains properly protected? Will the rule of law remain intact?

Both groups of readers are somewhat right.

We gave our readers a chance to turn their concerns into words. In response to comedian Freek de Jonge’s call, nearly a thousand of our readers submitted a poem addressed to PVV MP Martin Bosma. It became a creative form of resistance – a way for many readers to express their concerns and frustrations.

Yet the other side of our readership also makes a valid point: after all, the politicians in The Hague represent the choices of millions of voters. It is important not to lump these together and dismiss them as ‘suspicious’ in advance. What signal did they want to send with their vote? Are they satisfied with how their voice is translated into policy?

That’s why, in 2025, we set up a small panel of PVV voters, whom we interview periodically to hear their perspectives.

Vigilance and curiosity are essential journalistic virtues, and we need them
now more than ever. In 2025, too.

Karel Smouter and Wendelmoet Boersema

Karel Smouter
and Wendelmoet Boersema
Editors-in-chief of Trouw

Sense of purpose

Counter for life

rouw has a history as a distinctly Protestant Christian newspaper. Decades ago, the newspaper decided to take a different turn. We still value our roots, but we are no longer exclusively ‘for and by Christians’. With a dedicated Religion & Philosophy editorial team, Trouw has ensured that philosophical themes have received focused attention in recent decades. This editorial team continues to thrive. At the same time, we noticed that in practice, these themes often tend to remain somewhat academic and abstract.

In 2024, we successfully brought these themes to life, positioning ourselves as the newspaper with a ‘sense of purpose’. Starting from the life questions of our listeners, we now produce the podcast ‘Loket voor het leven’, in which we explore a different question each episode. Together with the University of Amsterdam, we developed an online test that lets readers discover their own ‘sense of purpose type’. Our weekly advice column ‘De Zinzoeker’ (the purpose seeker) has grown into one of the most popular features in the paper. To deepen our focus even further, we appointed a dedicated sense of purpose editor, who seeks out stories about how people find purpose in their lives.

Listen to the podcast

Meezitter

We have become increasingly creative over the past year in bundling our stories online. What we create doesn’t have to remain confined to our print and online editions; it can find new life in a newsletter, for instance. Since last summer, every Wednesday at noon, we’ve been publishing ‘De Meezitter’ – a newsletter featuring five uplifting stories that show how the world does work. The sense of optimism that shines through these stories is appealing. Over 9,000 readers now get the newsletter, both via email and LinkedIn. It’s opened more often and gets more click-throughs than our other newsletters.

In a way, it answers one of the most common reader requests from the end of 2023: give us more stories that inspire hope instead of leaving readers feeling down. The response has made us feel better, too.