Emil Jacob Jonas (1824-1912) was a German journalist, diplomat, translator and writer. He began his career at the Flensburger Zeitung and founded the German newspaper Intelligenz in Copenhagen in 1847. His political writings earned him recognition at the Danish court, where he took on diplomatic missions. He later entered the service of the Holstein Ministry. As a translator, he popularised Scandinavian authors such as Hans Christian Andersen, Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in the German-speaking world. His annotated translation of Andersen in particular attracted a great deal of attention. In addition to translations, he published his own theatre plays, novels and a history of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71.