Youth
Evgeny Gurevich was born on January 21, 1901 in the Poltava province. In 1919, he graduated from the gymnasium as an external student. By this time, he had managed to study "as a gunsmith in Kharkov from Edelberg and as a driver from Tevs," participated in the revolutionary events of 1917 "as part of the Mezhlauk brothers' combat squad," and in 1918 fought "in Raskind's cavalry detachment against Petliura and the Germans."
In 1919, Gurevich was drafted into the White Army and served in the Crimea. Then he joined the Red Army. At that time, any government needed educated people, moreover, with excellent knowledge of German and French.
In May 1924, he got a job as a secretary in the office of Exportugl, a division of Ukrhostorg. In August, he became the head of the technical part of the office, and in October, he became the business manager of Exportugl.
Since February 1925, a new twist in his biography has been E. Gurevich, already secretary of the import department of the State Trade Committee of the Ukrainian SSR. Since May 1925 — Assistant to the head of the Technical Bureau and head of the commission department of the Technical Bureau of the import department. Since January 1926, he has been the head of the Department of Motor Transport and Equipment of Public Utilities at the Technical Office of the State Trade Committee of the Ukrainian SSR.
In his spare time, Evgeny Samoilovich stubbornly engaged in self-education both in the arms industry and in the automotive industry. Later, this knowledge saved his life. He became close to the top of the GPU of Ukraine: N.S. Bachinsky, A.O. Bronev (uncle of the famous actor) and especially with L.F. Shcherbinsky, with whom he played in the same shooting team .
In 1927, he joined the Shooting Committee of the Supreme Council for Physical Culture of the Ukrainian SSR.
A journey through the GULAG jungle
On January 4, 1930, E.A. Gurevich was arrested on false charges and sentenced to 10 years in camps, followed by five years of exile, loss of rights and confiscation of property.
He served his term in Solovki, then in the Far East, led a car squad during the construction of the BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline) .
He was actually the second person in construction after Lazar Kogan, the head of Belomorstroy.
When Naftali Frenkel became the head in 1931, Gurevich became the head of Belomorstroy transport.
However, he later ended up in a penal isolation unit for sabotage, but then became the head of logistics in the Administration of the Solovetsky special purpose camps.
In August 1933, Frenkel was appointed head of construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway. Gurevich was transferred to the BAMLAG administration as head of the auto group. He manages 5,200 pieces of equipment with personnel. Gurevich lived in the city of Svobodny (formerly Alekseevsk) without an escort, and even hunted and kept a hunting rifle.
In 1935, Gurevich was transferred to Khabarovsk as a senior consulting engineer at the Dallag and provided with an apartment.
In 1937, V.K. Blucher became the commander of the Primorsky Group of Forces, and the commander's smart Packard Twin Six often broke down. The only specialist who could figure out the car turned out to be Evgeny Gurevich, who not only repaired it regularly, but also came up with a device that made it possible to diagnose the malfunction. As soon as one of the candles on the huge engine stopped working, the corresponding light on the dashboard immediately lit up. Blucher was delighted with this innovation.
In 1936, he worked at the design bureau for tank engines.
In 1938, he was arrested again, and Gurevich was beaten to testify against Blucher. My mother Sofya Moiseevna and my sister Marina, who worked in Ordzhonikidze's secretariat, saved me from being shot. The mother persuaded her daughter to compose a telegram along the following lines: "How are things with the Gurevich engine?" and sign it either with Ordzhonikidze or with Stalin himself, sending the text of the telegram to his secretariat on behalf of Ordzhonikidze. They both risked their lives, but the trick worked.
On May 5, 1939, he was released.
Weapons engineer
At large, Gurevich seriously engaged in the development of firearms.
Unfortunately, Gurevich's military developments were mostly classified, and priority certificates and copyright certificates are marked "not subject to disclosure. "
Since 1943, field tests of some secret Gurevich designs have been taking place. Only some of their names are known, for example, "Potok" or "GARS" (Gurevich active-rocket projectile).
In 1944, Gurevich's work on weapons for silent shooting resulted in his revolver "for destroying manpower at close range on special missions" and a 7.62 mm cartridge for it. Gurevich's revolver has several modifications.
In the spring of 1945, Gurevich decided to move his family to Tula.
Until February 1946, he worked as a senior weapons engineer at the Artillery Committee of the State Agrarian University of the Russian Academy of Sciences under the leadership of the Chairman of the Artillery Committee, Colonel–General of Artillery V.I. Khokhlov.
In 1949, Nina Mikhailovna Shorokhova became his wife. She worked as a hairdresser and was 26 years younger than Gurevich.
In 1952, the Tula Mining and Processing Plant paid Gurevich 4,000 rubles for a new method of leather dressing.
Since 1958, he has been a consultant to the regional Military Educational Institute (All—Union Society of Inventors and Innovators).
Restorer and collector of cars
In 1960, the inventor got a Rolls-Royce. Gurevich claimed that the Rolls-Royce was a gift from Voroshilov for his work on mortar subjects. The car made a strong impression, and not only on Tula residents.
In 1962, the 250th anniversary of TOZ was widely celebrated. During a theatrical performance at the Trud Stadium, Gurevich appeared in his car and circled the treadmill. Next to him sat People's Artist N.K. Cherkasov, disguised as Professor Polezhaev from the film "Deputy of the Baltic".
In June 1962, Gurevich's old acquaintance from Kharkov, the famous pilot Hero of the Soviet Union V.S. Grizodubova, arrived in Tula. Evgeny Samoilovich drove her in his car to Yasnaya Polyana.
By 1975, there were 5 cars in Gurevich's collection.: A 1906 Peugeot, a 1912 4-wheel ABC (perhaps the only one preserved in the world), a 1910 Bugatti Type 13 sports car, a 1920 Mercedes with wooden wheels, and a replica of an old car with a tractor (!) engine, assembled to replace the beloved "Rolls-Royce." The Bugatti, found in a rural chicken coop and restored by Gurevich, was sold through Autoexport to France. Of the 630 rubles received, I also had to pay for the transportation of the car to Odessa.
A few years later, colleagues from SAMSA, Russia's first auto club, showed Gurevich a French catalog featuring the same Bugatti with a price of 35,000 gold francs. It looks like Avtoexport has made good money.
In 1978, a 1932 Fiat appeared and then disappeared. Gurevich's collection and his automobile library became famous in the circles of car enthusiasts.
The famous American collector Bill Harrah knew about Gurevich's cars, who sent a handwritten letter in May 1975.
Once, the Mosfilm film studio brought an old Magirus truck. Restored by Gurevich, in 1981 it was used on the set of the film "The Sixth".
It was impossible to manage such a household on your own. The Tula Motor Transport Company also helped out with voluntary assistants, among whom the unique mechanic Moskalenko stood out.
There were always people in Gurevich's house: guests, inventors who came for advice, colleagues in their hobbies.
He died on December 26, 1981 in Tula.
E..Gurevich is dedicated to the novel by Tula writer Nadezhda Tyuleneva "Once upon a Time there was a Bugatti", published by the publishing house "Children's Literature" (Moscow).
