Josef Kotas

Josef Kotas (born September 12, 1891 , † July 11, 1966 in Ostrava ) was a Czechoslovak miner and politician.

Life and activity

After attending school, Kotas worked as an unskilled worker in the Zofinsky steel works. Since 1912 Kotas belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Army as a pressed soldier. A few months after the First World War began, he was sent to the front in 1915 and served in Russia and Italy. In 1918 he fell ill with malaria . In 1919 he found a job in a mine.

In 1925, Kotas turned to politics. After he had belonged to the Social Democratic Party until the early 1920s, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia around 1923 . For this he was elected council member of the city of Ostrava, the third largest city in Czechoslovakia, in 1925. In 1929 he also became a member of the Moravian Parliament. As a party official, he was a member of the CCP Central Committee from 1927 to 1931.

In 1938, Kotas was elected mayor of Ostrava. However, the responsible district administrator refused to confirm him in office. In view of the German invasion in March 1939 and the establishment of the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , Kotas moved to Great Britain in June 1939.

After his emigration, Kotas was classified as an enemy of the state by the National Socialist police. In the spring of 1940 the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin put him on the special wanted list GB , a directory of people who, in the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Wehrmacht, were to be located and arrested with special priority by the occupying forces following special SS units.

On May 2, 1945, Kotas returned to Ostrava on behalf of the Morkau CCP. From then on he held office again, from 1945 to 1960, as mayor of the city. From 1945 to 1951 he was also the chairman of the CCP District Committee. During his reign, the city was expanded to include several settlements, as well as massive heavy industry development. Furthermore, cultural institutions such as the music theater (1951), the State Science Library (1951) and the Pedagogical Institute (1959) were established in the city. In addition, the University of Mining had already settled in the city in 1945. Conversely, he was also responsible for the closure of monasteries and the deportation of friars and sisters (March 1950).

Web links

• Entry on Kotas on the City of Ostrava website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry on Kotas on the special wanted list GB (reproduced on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London) .