ZEFYS - the newspaper information system of Berlin State Library

ZEFYS, the newspaper information system of Berlin State Library

The newspaper information system ZEFYS is a portal for free access to historical newspapers (with publication dates up to Ca. 1945) which have been digitised by Berlin State Library.

Current digital newspapers (publication dates from 1945 onwards), which are either available free of charge online or licenced by the Berlin State Library, as well as other newspaper portals and newspaper databases are listed in our link collection to electronic resources.

The Official Press of Prussia (Amtspresse Preussens) and the „DDR Presse“ portal (Digitized Newspapers oft he Press Corpus oft he GDR) are available in ZEFYS via full-text search. The list of digitised newspapers, on the other hand, comprises titles for which we are not yet able to offer the full-text search option.

For legal reasons, registration is compulsory in order to use the newspapers in the “DDR Presse“ portal. There is a number of registration options available free of charge:

  • Library card of Berlin State Library
  • Google account
  • ORCID
  • Login credentials as a member of an academic or research institution (eduGAIN)

Do you have any questions about ZEFYS or newspapers in general?

Our subject specialist Christoph Albers will be happy to help you, Tel.: +49 30 266 436300

Do you have any technical problems accessing or viewing the digital copies?

The head of the respective unit in our IT-Department Borries Jensen will be happy to help you.

Disclaimer:

Berlin State Library grants access to contemporary historical media, including media from the National Socialist era, for the purpose of study, research and teaching. It explicitly distances itself from all racist, violence-glorifying, defamatory and National Socialist content.

Please note that Berlin State Library does not publish or distribute newspapers. Please contact the respective publisher or subscription service in all matters of subscription and delivery.

14/12/2023
11/09/2023
22/08/2023
13/03/2023
12/10/2022
30/09/2022
11/04/2022
01/03/2022
09/02/2022
16/12/2021
  • Added a filter function to alphabetical list of ZDB newspaper titles
  • Search: Added option to search only in selected newspapers
  • Search: Added option to limit search to article titles and image captions
23/11/2021
  • Authentication via science facility (Shibboleth) has been revised (incl. eduGAIN). In case of login problems, please use the contact page to describe the problem.
12/11/2021
  • Search: The possibility to use logical operators (AND, OR) as well as phrase search has been implemented.
16/07/2021
  • Authentication via science facility (Shibboleth) is now possible again
12/07/2021
  • Authentication with SBB library card/account is now possible
  • Search: Added a chronological sorting
  • Search: Added the possibility of limiting to a period of time
20/04/2021
  • The press corpus of the GDR and "Amtspresse Preußens" can be searched in full text
  • Full texts for the press corpus of the GDR are shown in DFG-Viewer
  • Calendar overviews of individual newspapers as well as the entire holdings are available
  • The further development of ZEFYS will continue in Q3 2021
31/03/2021
  • Authentication via ORCID can be used for the GDR press
  • The user interface is available in English
26/03/2021
  • Digitized newspaper titles of the press corpus of the GDR ("DDR-Presse") can be accessed again - via Google authentication
22/03/2021
  • Scanned pages are now displayed in high resolution again
  • The isolated problems with the display of some newspaper pages in Safari browsers have been fixed
  • URLs for digitized newspapers from the old ZEFYS are redirected
11/03/2021
  • Alphabetical list of digitized titles
  • Digitized title details pages with metadata and list of annual issue count
  • Show individual issues in DFG-Viewer
  • Incoming links in StabiKat and ZDB are now working again