Jerzy Kotula

Jerzy Kotula (1855 – 29 July 1889) was a Polish bookseller and publisher.

He was a son of Andrzej Kotula. From the 1870s, he worked as an assistant bookseller in Cieszyn, and in 1883, he opened his own bookstore. Since 1879, he had been involved in publishing, releasing, among others, a brochure by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski titled W sprawie szkół ludowych na Śląsku (On the Matter of Folk Schools in Silesia). He also worked on Polish bibliographies in Slovanským katalogu bibliografickým and collaborated with the editorial team of the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland. He was a member of the and an activist of the .

Origins and childhood Jerzy Kotula was born in 1855 in Šahy. He came from a family that settled in the Cieszyn Silesia in the 16th century as part of the so-called Vlach colonization. He was part of the "millers' line" of the Kotula family, originating from Paweł Kotula (died 1732), a miller in Hradiště. Jerzy's grandfather, Józef Kotula (died 1844), owned land no. 59 in the same village.

Jerzy was the fourth child of Andrzej Kotula, a Polish notary and national activist in Cieszyn Silesia, and his wife Anna Zuzanna from the Tetl family. He had siblings: Bolesław, Ludmiła Anna, Ludomir, and Rudolf. He also had a half-sister, Emilia, from his mother's first marriage.

He was born in Hungary, where his father worked as a land registry clerk. Later, the Kotula family returned to Cieszyn, where Jerzy began attending the local Evangelical gymnasium in 1867. He studied there until 1869 or 1870. It is unknown where he continued his education afterward, though it is believed that he studied outside Cieszyn.

He began his public activities in the second half of the 1870s.

Kotula also approached Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, requesting him to write a pamphlet for teachers. The Cieszyn publisher emphasized that in Austrian Silesia, there were 16 secondary schools for 260,000 Germans, while for 300,000 Poles and Czechs, there were none. He also pointed out that the Duchy of Teschen was entirely Polish. In response, Kraszewski wrote W sprawie szkół ludowych na Śląsku (On the Issue of Folk Schools in Silesia), published in October 1879.

Kotula was a member of the and the , founded in 1881. He also co-created the journal Przyjaciel Ludu published by the society. is not supported by the available sources. His funeral took place on 31 July.

The debts left by Jerzy Kotula were inherited by his father, Andrzej, while the bookstore was purchased by Siegmund Stuks, a German of Jewish descent.