The Kreuzzeitung was a national daily newspaper published between 1848 and 1939 in the Kingdom of Prussia and then during the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and into the first part of the Third Reich. The paper was a voice of the conservative upper class, although it was never associated with any political party and never had more than 10,000 subscribers. Its target readership was the nobility, military officers, high-ranking officials, industrialists and diplomats. Because its readers were among the elite, the Kreuzzeitung was often quoted and at times very influential. It had connections to officials in the highest levels of government and business and was especially known for its foreign reporting. Most of its content consisted of carefully researched foreign and domestic news reported without commentary.

Its original name was officially the Neue Preußische Zeitung (New Prussian Newspaper), although because of the Iron Cross as its emblem in the title, it was simply called the ‘Kreuzzeitung’ (Cross Newspaper) in both general and official usage. In 1911 it was renamed the Neue Preußische (Kreuz)-Zeitung and then after 1929 the Neue Preußische Kreuz-Zeitung. Between 1932 and 1939 the official title was simply the Kreuzzeitung. From its first issue to its last, the newspaper used the German motto from the Wars of Liberation "Forward with God for King and Fatherland" as its subtitle. It had editorial offices in various cities in Germany and abroad. Its headquarters was in Berlin.

The National Socialists took over the Kreuzzeitung on 29 August 1937, and the last issue was printed on 31 January 1939.

In the Kingdom of Prussia, the Allgemeine Preußische Staatszeitung (General Prussian State Newspaper) was published from 1819 as a newspaper for official announcements. It later developed into the Deutsche Reichsanzeiger (German Imperial Gazette) and today's Bundesanzeiger (Federal Gazette). There was no other newspaper that represented the particular interests of the Prussian upper class. As a reaction to the March Revolution of 1848, the Bundestag repealed the Carlsbad Decrees on 2 April 1848. The middle class in particular, but also radical left-wing forces, took advantage of the newly won freedom of the press and founded numerous newspapers, among them the bourgeois-liberal National-Zeitung and the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (New Rhenish Newspaper) with radical-communist content.

Monarchical-conservative circles sped up their push to found their own newspaper to represent the opposite side; this became the Kreuzzeitung. Originally it was to be called Das Eiserne Kreuz (The Iron Cross), but some of the founders found the name too militaristic. They agreed on the more noncommittal Neue Preußische Zeitung with an image of the iron cross in the logo. The newspaper was nevertheless called the Kreuzzeitung by its authors, creators and readers from the first issue. The main founders, almost all of them belonging to the camarilla around the Prussian king Frederick William IV were:

The launch of the newspaper and the founding of the publishing house were carried out with military precision. The intent was for the paper to be characterized by good networking with the highest state institutions. Berlin was chosen both for the headquarters of the New Prussian Newspaper, Inc. and as the location for its printing. The calculated starting capital of 20,000 thalers was raised by selling shares of 100 thalers each. A total of 80 people subscribed, including Otto von Bismarck, who for many years personally wrote articles for the Kreuzzeitung. The largest shareholder, with shares worth 2,000 thalers, was Carl von Voß-Buch, a lawyer and civil adjutant to William IV. The subscription price was set at 1.5 thalers per quarter; outside Berlin, subscriptions cost 2 thalers due to the postal surcharge. The paper was printed initially by the Brandis Company in Berlin, and three sample issues were sent out in mid-June 1848. Following this, a large number of subscriptions was immediately able to be sold to aristocrats, district councils and senior civil servants. Hermann Wagener became editor-in-chief, and issue Number 1 of the Neue Preußische Zeitung appeared on 30 June 1848.

In connection to the new paper, the Prussian Conservative Party was called the “Kreuzzeitung Party” or simply the "Cross Party”. In the same way, the use of the colloquial terms "black" or having "black views" to refer to members and voters of Christian conservative parties can be traced to the Kreuzzeitung, because the paper was printed in jet black until its end.

The Kreuzzeitung was controversial from the beginning, even among the various groups of conservatives. Particularly at the beginning of the post-1848 reactionary era, part of the upper nobility "categorically rejected such democratic means in the struggle to form opinions”. Very quickly, however, Wagener was able to win the trust of the founders. With the support of Friedrich Julius Stahl, he quickly built up a dense network of authors and informants. The majority wrote their articles under a pseudonym as independent contributors. Only in Vienna, Dresden, Munich and other capitals of the individual German states were correspondents permanently employed. For many years Bismarck himself supplied reports from Paris. Reporters obtained news from all other countries through diplomats in Berlin.