Perfume wait for me

The vast territories of the Soviet Union, where grain and sugar beets were grown, were occupied by the Nazis. And all the needs of medicine and pharmaceuticals associated with the use of alcohol were met by various agricultural products from Altai, Siberia, and the Far East. And the perfume industry was silent for a long time. French perfumery continued to live, albeit with difficulty. Soviet chemical science lagged behind, especially in the field of organic chemistry and the synthesis of aromatic substances. Despite the efforts of Soviet scientists to restore the perfume industry, even after the Victory, it was not easy to overcome this lag.

But there was an extraordinary patriotic upsurge in the country, which contributed to the birth of outstanding works of music and poetry.

Poems were recited….
In 1942, the newspaper "Pravda" published K. Simonov's poem "Wait for me" ...

The soldiers cut these verses from the newspapers, memorized them, copied from each other. A new image of a woman sounded, hitherto unknown in the Soviet country. So, at least, you can say if you look at the image of a woman through the prism of poetry, literature and art in the pre-war years. Indeed, at that time a woman was praised as a great force on the collective farm, as a shock worker, a sportswoman and an activist. And now everyone in the woman saw a tender friend, a loving mother, a bride waiting for her friend and groom.

In February 1943, a turning point in the course of the war occurs. The Red Army wins at Stalingrad. People are starting to return home from evacuation, buildings and factories are being restored. And the perfume industry is resuming its activities. Factory "Novaya Zarya" produces its famous perfume "Red Moscow", that is, immediately after the victory at Stalingrad, by the day of March 8.

There were no bottles at the factory, since the factories that produced them had not yet been restored. And what is surprising, in that harsh time, when there were still two years of hardship and grief before the end of the war, people reached out to the factory with their containers. Only such an amount of fragrant liquid was poured into one hands, which was equal to one bottle. The smell of perfume was in trams, in the metro, and on the streets of Moscow, not to mention the apartments. How it becomes clear and understandable here how healing power of perfumery is, even in the world of sorrow and tears.

Perfume Wait for Me - 1968 version

In the spring of 1944, Novaya Zarya released the Wait for Me perfume. Lily of the valley smell - gentle and happy breathed for all women, many of whom did not wait and remained lonely for the rest of their lives….

Wait for me and I will come back,
To spite all deaths.
Who did not wait for me, let him
He will say: - Lucky.

Long after the war, only women will dance on dance floors in a light tremulous waltz - without men ...

Wait when others are not expected
Forgetting yesterday.
Wait when from distant places
Letters will not come
Wait until you get bored
To everyone who is waiting together.

How needed then perfumery, what a comforting power it possessed.

Wait for me and I will come back.
Just wait really ...