Thorleif (von) Paus

Thorleif Paus (; 8 October 1881 – 9 June 1976), also known as Thorleif de Paus or Thorleif von Paus, was a Norwegian diplomat, estate owner and businessman. As a 23 year old consular secretary he became Norway's only diplomatic representative to the great power of Austria-Hungary in 1905 and in charge of obtaining diplomatic recognition of Norway following the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden; he later served as consul and acting consul-general in Vienna. Paus left Austria-Hungary in 1918 and later became a businessman in Norway, an estate owner in Sweden, where he owned Kvesarum Castle, and finally moved to Copenhagen. Background and family A member of the Paus family, he was a son of the steel industrialist and banker Ole Paus and Birgitte Halvordine Schou, and grew up in Christiania (now Oslo). His father was a first cousin of Henrik Ibsen, whereas his mother was a first cousin of the industrialist Halvor Schou. Prime Minister Sigurd Ibsen was Thorleif Paus' second cousin. He was the brother of the businessman Christopher Blom Paus (1878–1959) and the brother-in-law of the historian of nobility Otto von Munthe af Morgenstierne. His nephew was the steel industrialist Per Paus, who was married to Hedevig Wedel-Jarlsberg. In his first marriage, he was married to Gabriele (Ella) Stein (1883–1971), the daughter of the Viennese lawyer August Stein (1852–1890). August Stein left the Jewish Community of Vienna in 1877 and he and his children were baptized as Catholics in 1885/86. In his second marriage, he was married to the former countess Ella Moltke, née Glückstadt (born 1899 in Copenhagen), a daughter of the prominent Danish Jewish businessman Valdemar Glückstadt and widow of count Erik Moltke of Nør. In his first marriage, he was the father of Helvig Paus (born 1909 in Vienna) and Major-General Ole Paus (born 1910 in Vienna). In his second marriage, he had a stepson, count Erik Moltke. He was the grandfather of the troubadour Ole Paus and the great-grandfather of the composer Marcus Paus.