JONAS, EMIL (JACOB; pseudonym, Graf Löwenbalk v. Hohenthal):
By: Isidore Singer
German writer and publicist; born July 14, 1824, at Schwerin, Mecklenburg; educated at the gymnasium of his native city and at Heidelberg. In 1845 he became editor of the "Flensburger Zeitung." This paper took the part of the Danish government, which had emancipated the Jews in Denmark as early as 1836, while in the duchies of Sleswick and Holstein Jews were merely tolerated. Weary of the lengthy political struggles, Jonas went to Copenhagen in 1847, where he engaged in teaching. A pamphlet that he wrote on the political conditions in Denmark and in the two duchies attracted the attention of the crown prince, who on his accession to the throne in 1848 as King Frederick VII. called Jonas to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and entrusted him with several important missions. In 1849, when a liberal constitution was under discussion, Jonas published a pamphlet entitled "Das Ein- und Zweikammersystem," which met with the approval of the king, who in 1851 appointed Jonas "Kammer-Assessor" and private secretary. In 1852 he was transferred as "Kammer-Rath" to the ministry of Holstein. He resigned in 1854 for political reasons, although he remained connected with the court down to the king's death.
After the war of 1863-64 Jonas went to Berlin, where he engaged in literature, devoting himself chiefly to the translation of Scandinavian works and to the publishing of travelers' guide-books, among which may be mentioned: "Reise-und Skizzenbuch für Schweden," 1875; "Illustrirtes Reisebuch für Norwegen," 1876; "Reisehandbuch für Kopenhagen," 10 editions, 1886. His works include also a history of the Franco-Prussian war, a text-book for self-instruction in Swedish according to the Toussaint-Langenscheidt system, a German-Danish lexicon, and also "König Oscars Gedichte und Prosa-Schriften," 1872-94, and "Anthologie Hervorragender Skandinawischer Dichter," 1903.
