THE LEGEND OF CRIMINAL DETECTION IN THE HISTORY OF THE ODUV

The legend of the Odessa region’s criminal investigation department, the one who became the prototype of David Gotsman in the crime series “Liquidation”, whose monument is installed near the building of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Odessa region – David Kurlyand once taught at our university.

David Mikhailovich (Mendelevich) Kurlyand, Deputy Head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Odessa, was born on February 1, 1913 in Odessa. He began working in the internal affairs bodies in 1934.

David Kurlyand was the youngest of three children in a family that lived in Moldavanka at 37 Sadikovska Street. His parents were born in Vilnius, from where they came to Odessa. His father, a builder and stove-maker, died when David was only seven years old. For some time he was raised in orphanage No. 8 (at first it was located at 8 Maly Provluk, and then in house No. 20 on Pyshonivska Street). The time of rampant crime, numerous gangs like Mykhailo Vinnytskyi "Yaponchik", who ruled the city, was long forgotten in his memory. And the orphanage boys knew about the world of crime firsthand. Apparently, even then David Kurlyand decided that he would fight crime.

During World War II, D.M. Kurlyand took an active part in the defense of the city of Odessa, for which he was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Odessa" for No. 300. He worked for a long time in Uzbekistan, where in Tashkent and Fergana he held the position of head of the criminal investigation department. And this - at the age of twenty-eight! In 1943, he returned to Odessa with the troops.

There was a lot of work for the criminal investigation department: post-war Odessa was covered by a wave of crime. The situation was catastrophic. Ruin and hunger reigned everywhere. Deserters, former police officers who were still threatened with execution and had nothing to lose, simply homeless people - they all flooded the city and made the lives of citizens impossible. The availability of weapons, stolen and captured, made numerous gangs even more dangerous. Among many others, a gang of robbers led by a former athlete nicknamed "Tarzan" operated in Odessa, and a gang that drove American Dodge cars terrorized the villagers on the roads of the region. There was also an armed gang called "Black Cat".

At that time, David Mikhailovich worked as an assistant to the chief of operations; chief of operations; head of the criminal investigation department; deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department of Odessa. He personally participated in the neutralization of the bandit formations that were operating in Odessa at that time. Colleagues called him the “chief detective”, “professor of special operations”, and criminals called him the “Odessa wolfhound”. With his direct participation, a large number of crimes were solved, including: the “Werewolf” case, the counterfeiters’ case, the “Governor” case, the Marushchak case, the “Black Cat” case, the “Dodge” case, the “Odessa Tarzan” case, etc. Many of the cases solved by David Kurlyand were later reflected in adventure films and books.

David Kurlyand left a diary of memories, where he told how they fought against the criminal element in post-war Odessa. Perhaps this interesting document and the no less interesting biography of its author would have remained known only to specialists, if not for the greatest of all arts – cinema. Memories of D.M. Kurlyand became one of the sources on which the script of the popular TV series "Liquidation" was based, and the person of David Mikhailovich himself became the prototype of the main character - the storm of criminals David Markovich Gotsman.

He was one of those whose efforts created the National Museum of the History of Internal Affairs Bodies of the Odessa Region (14 Yevreyska Street), collected thousands of unique exhibits, including those in memory of comrades who died during their service. There you can now see the awards of David Kurlyand himself, and his service weapons.

It is noteworthy that David Kurlyand had a direct relationship with our university, at that time - the Odessa Special Secondary School of Militia. As a practitioner and professional, he gave lectures to cadets on special disciplines, in particular on operational and investigative activities. This is confirmed by the materials contained in the State Archive of the Odessa Region.

David Mykhailovych Kurlyand died on July 28, 1993 and was buried at the Trinity Cemetery in Odessa.

In 2008, near the building of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Odessa region (today - the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Odessa region), as a sign of gratitude to the operatives of the Odessa Criminal Investigation Department, a monument was erected (sculptor Oleksandr Tokarev, architect Volodymyr Glazyrin), which is popularly called the monument to David Kurlyand.

Based on materials from open sources.

Photo from the State Archives of Odessa Region.