Bernhard Cathrinus Pauss (born 6 April 1839 at Tangen, Drammen, died 9 November 1907 in Christiania) was a Norwegian theologian, educator, author and humanitarian and missionary leader, who was a major figure in girls' education in Norway in his lifetime.
He was headmaster and owner of Nissen's Girls' School (1872–1907/1903) and head of its affiliated women's teachers college, the first higher education institution open to women in Norway. He was also a lecturer at the Norwegian Military Academy. He was chairman of the Norwegian Santal Mission (1887–1907), in succession to Oscar Nissen, and founded and edited the journal Santalen. He also wrote and edited several schoolbooks in Norwegian and German, including the reading book series Læsebog i Modersmaalet, that was one of the most widely used schoolbooks in Norway for over half a century. A village in India, Pauspur (Pausspur), was named in his honour. He was a member of the government-appointed committee which proposed the Higher School Act, adopted in 1896.
Nissen's Girls' School in Niels Juels gate 56 at Frogner, Oslo. The property was bought by Bernhard Pauss in 1897, who commissioned the construction of the building, which was completed in 1899
Upon graduating from the university in 1865, he became a teacher at Nissen's Girls' School, a private girls' school in Christiania. In 1872 he succeeded the school's founder Hartvig Nissen as one of three co-owners and joint headmasters, and he ultimately became the sole owner and headmaster. In 1903, the school was sold to the company that owned the neighbouring Frogner School, but Nissen's Girls' School was managed independently and he remained as headmaster until his death four years later.
During his time as headmaster, the school became the first in Norway to offer examen artium, the university entrance exam, for women. Nissen's Girls' School was also the first institution—ahead of the University—to provide tertiary education for women in Norway, through its affiliated teachers college, headed by Pauss. During the late 19th century, the college educated a significant proportion of all female teachers in the country. He bought the property where the school is now located in Niels Juels gate 56 in 1897 and commissioned the construction of the school's new building, designed by Henrik Nissen.
He lectured in German and religion at the Norwegian Military Academy from 1868 to 1882. He was also a member of the board of directors of the School for Young Ladies in Christian Augusts Gade.
He was described as a very kind man who was well liked by his pupils and staff. Former pupils erected a grave monument for him at Vår Frelsers gravlund.[2]
From 1890, he was a member of the government-appointed committee which proposed the Higher School Act, adopted in 1896, and served in the sub-committee tasked with matters relating to girls' schools, with Ragna Nielsen og Henriette Wulfsberg.[3]
Books
Bernhard Pauss published numerous schoolbooks. Together with Hartvig Lassen, he edited the reading book series Læsebog i Modersmaalet (from 1884), which became one of the most widely used in Norway over a period of around 80 years. It was published eight years before Nordahl Rolfsen's Læsebog for Folkeskolen, and was more strongly characterized by the continuity from the Danish literary heritage, although it also featured the first contours of the Norwegian literary golden age.[4]
Chairman of the Norwegian Santal Mission
Bernhard Pauss was chairman of the Norwegian Santal Mission, a humanitarian and missionary organisation that was active among the Santhal people of India, from 1887 to 1907, in succession to Oscar Nissen. He was also the first editor of its journal, Santalen ("The Santal"), from 1883 to 1907.[5] After his death, his wife Henriette Pauss succeeded him as editor of the journal and board member of the Norwegian Santal Mission.
A village in Assam, India, Pauspur (also spelled Pausspur), was named in his honour by missionaries of the Santal Mission.[6][7] The village received this name in the late 19th century and still carried the name as of the 1950s.[8]
A member of the Norwegian patrician Paus family, he was a son of shipmaster and ship-owner from Drammen Nicolai NissenPauss (1811–1877) and Caroline Louise Salvesen (1812–1887), a daughter of the shipmaster and privateerBent Salvesen and a granddaughter of the major Drammen timber merchant Jacob Fegth. He was of no relation to either Hartvig Nissen or Oscar Nissen, but was descended from district judge of Upper Telemark Hans Paus (1721–1774) and Danish-born Andrea Jaspara Nissen (1725–1772), a descendant of Nikolaj Nissen and whose family were estate owners in Jutland. He was a male-line descendant of the priests Peder Paus, Povel Paus and Hans Paus, and was also a descendant of the Danish war hero Jørgen Kaas, of the topographer Arent Berntsen, and of statesmen such as Eske Bille, Claus Bille, Jørgen Lykke and Mogens Gyldenstierne.
His son, surgeon, hospital director and President of the Norwegian Red Cross Nikolai Nissen Paus
In 1865, he married Augusta Thoresen in Geneva; she was a daughter of the Christiania timber merchant Hans Thoresen. Their only son Evald Pauss died as a medical student from diphtheria, a disease contracted as a student. Augusta died in 1875.
Bernhard Pauss with his second wife and their children, photographed by Gustav Borgen ca. 1900
Grave of Bernhard Pauss, his two wives Augusta Pauss and Anna Henriette Pauss, and oldest son Evald Pauss, at Vår Frelsers gravlund
Bernhard Cathrinus Pauss was the grandfather of, among others, the surgeon, humanitarian and Grand Master of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons Bernhard Cathrinus Paus (1910–1999), of the industrial leader Bernhard Paus (1909–1970), of the diplomat and industrial leader Vilhelm Paus (1915–1995) and of the humanist Henriette Bie Lorentzen (1911–2001).
He was the brother of ship-owner and merchant in Svelvik Ismar Mathias Pauss (born 1835) and Nicoline Louise Pauss, married to ship-owner, Member of Parliament and Norway's largest sail manufacturer Peter Hannibal Høeg. He was a godfather to his nephews Alf and Nicolay Nissen Paus, who founded the Paus & Paus industrial company.
In his lifetime, the family name was spelled Pauss, but his children reverted to the older spelling Paus, used by other family branches.
Nissens Pigeskole og Privatseminar, Christiania, 1900
Related Research Articles
The Paus family is a Norwegian family that first appeared as members of the elite of 16th-century Oslo and that for centuries belonged to Norway's "aristocracy of officials" as priests of the state church, judges and other higher government officials, especially in Upper Telemark. Family members later became involved in shipping, steel and banking. The family is particularly known for its close association with Henrik Ibsen.
Nikolai Nissen Paus was a Norwegian surgeon, hospital director and humanitarian. He served as President of the Norwegian Red Cross 1945–1947, and as Vice President 1930–1945 and acting President 1939–1940. He was also President of the Norwegian Florence Nightingale Committee and chaired several governmental committees.
Bernhard Cathrinus Paus was a Norwegian orthopedic surgeon and humanitarian.
Hartvig Nissen was a Norwegian gymnast mostly active within Norway and the USA. He later worked in politics.
Ole Hartvig Nissen was a Norwegian philologist and educator. He founded Nissen's Girls' School in Christiania in 1849. In 1865 he became director-general in the Ministry of Education, while remaining one of three joint headmasters of Nissen's Girls' School until 1872. In 1873 he was appointed to the prestigious position as rector of Oslo Cathedral School.
Jacob Benjamin Wegner was a Norwegian business magnate, estate owner and timber merchant.
Cathrinus Dorotheus Olivius Bang was a Norwegian literary historian and professor of Scandinavian literature at the University of Christiania.
The Berenberg family was a Flemish-origined Hanseatic family of merchants, bankers and senators in Hamburg, with branches in London, Livorno and other European cities. The family was descended from the brothers Hans and Paul Berenberg from Antwerp, who came as Protestant refugees to the city-republic of Hamburg following the Fall of Antwerp in 1585 and who established what is now Berenberg Bank in Hamburg in 1590. The Berenbergs were originally cloth merchants and became involved in merchant banking in the 17th century. Having existed continuously since 1590, Berenberg Bank is the world's oldest surviving merchant bank.
The Hartvig Nissen School, informally referred to as Nissen, is a gymnasium in Oslo, Norway. It is located in the neighborhood Uranienborg in the affluent West End borough of Frogner. It is Norway's oldest high school for girls and is widely considered one of the country's two most prestigious high schools alongside the traditionally male-only Oslo Cathedral School; its alumni include many famous individuals and two members of the Norwegian royal family.
George Wegner Paus, often known as George Paus, was a Norwegian lawyer, mountaineer, skiing pioneer, sailor, rower, poet, diplomat and business executive.
The Norwegian Santal Mission was a Norwegian humanitarian and missionary organisation that was mainly active in India, particularly among the Santhal people. It was affiliated with the (Lutheran) Norwegian State Church and existed from 1867 until it merged with other organisations to form Normisjon in 2001. The Norwegian Santal Mission has operated schools and hospitals in India and Bhutan.
Hans Thoresen was a Norwegian timber merchant and ship-owner in Christiania, Norway. He became a burgher in Christiania in 1790 and built a large timber business in the city.
Theodor Christian Petersen Haagaas was a Norwegian mathematician and private school owner. He was a co-owner of Frogner School and Nissen's Girls' School (1913–1918) and founder, owner and headmaster of the Haagaas School, a private gymnasium at Frogner, Oslo that existed 1915–1955. He is also known for the widely used Haffner og Haagaas series of textbooks in mathematics, which was published between 1925 and 1979 in numerous editions. He received the King's Medal of Merit in Gold in 1949.
Santalen was a magazine published by the Norwegian Santal Mission from 1883 to 2001. The journal was founded and edited by Bernhard Pauss, who was also the chairman of the Norwegian Santal Mission's central committee from 1887 to 1907. Following his death his widow Henriette Pauss became editor. The journal had a circulation of around 5,000 in the 1880s and 14,000 in 1977. In 2001 the Norwegian Santal Mission merged to become part of Normisjon, and the publication was succeeded by Agenda 3:16.
Wegner is a Norwegian family whose members have been noted as industrialists and as lawyers.
Læsebog i Modersmaalet, later titled Hjemme og ute and Heime og ute, was a reading book series that was published in numerous editions between 1884 and 1958 and that was widely used in the school system of Norway for around 80 years. The work's original authors were Bernhard Cathrinus Pauss and Hartvig Lassen. After Lassen's death, the series was edited by Pauss and Andreas Martin Corneliussen, and after Pauss' death by Corneliussen and Olaf Ellefsen. From 1921, the work was edited by Mathilde Munch and Sven Svensen and retitled Hjemme og ute. At times, the series was used by half of all pupils in Norwegian schools.
Anna Henriette "Jette" Pauss, née Anna Henriette Wegner, was a Norwegian teacher, editor and humanitarian and missionary leader.
Augustin Thoresen Paus was a Norwegian engineer and industrial leader in the hydropower industry. From 1918 he led the construction of the hydroelectric power plant at Rånåsfoss, one of the largest in Europe. Following the construction of the plant, he was the first managing director of Akershus Energi from 1922 until his death in 1945. He was "one of the most prominent leaders in the Norwegian energy industry" until his death.
Olav Eduard Pauss was a Norwegian ship-owner, shipbroker and consul-general in Sydney, Australia. He served as the consul-general of Sweden and Norway in New South Wales and Queensland from 1902 to 1905 and as the Norwegian consul from 1905 to 1928. He also acted as Danish consul for two separate periods and as Swiss consul. At his death he was described as "one of the best known shipping men in Australia."
Henriette Wegner, née Henriette Seyler, was a Norwegian businesswoman and philanthropist, a member of the Hanseatic Berenberg banking dynasty of Hamburg and the wife of the Norwegian industrialist Benjamin Wegner. She was briefly a co-owner of Berenberg Bank, and was also noted for her work for the homeless in Norway. During her life she was a citizen of the city-republic of Hamburg, of France during the Napoleonic Wars, and finally of Norway from 1824.
References
↑ Festskrift i Anledning af Gymnasiesamfundet Fraternitas' 50-Aarsjubilæum, Drammen, Samfundet, 1901
↑ Einar Boyesen (ed.): Nissens pikeskole 1849–1924, Oslo 1924
↑ Vilhelm Haffner, Innstillinger og betenkninger fra kongelige og parlamentariske kommisjoner, departementale komiteer m.m.; 1814–1924, p. 412, Fabritius, 1925
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
