This is the table of contents of my father Aron Breido's copy-book with family formulas of household chemical compositions. Below is the label for black Indian ink, which was produced in 1931-1934 at the chemical enterprise of the Regional Children's Commission in Voronezh, where my father's brother German Breido was exiled. German's ‘Indian ink’ formula was also included in father's copy-book.
In summer 1944 my fatally ill father decided to summarize all household chemical compound formulas, which he created during his whole life, in one copy-book. He created them using the experience of various countries, nations, our expert chemists, combining those, which were already known and inventing substitutes for the materials which weren’t available. More than 300 products were manufactured by him or with his help in Leningrad under the most difficult conditions of the blockade. But he was able to write down only 30 formulas including detailed production technology, using short intervals between the hospitals.
Absolute blindness, high temperature and, finally, total immobility didn’t allow him to accomplish this task. He preserved a clear consciousness and started to dictate the formulas to his daughter Ada. She wrote them down into small notebooks, seven by five centimeters. Thus she wrote down around 50 formulas. Father left these formulas to my mother, so that after his death she would continue the family business with our other relatives. Father continued to take care of the people around him till his last breath.
