Wait for me. The first publication of the legendary poem available in the Presidential Library’s collections

Exactly 80 years ago - January 14, 1942 - the immortal poem of the poet Konstantin Simonov Wait for me was first published on the pages of the Pravda newspaper. A digitized copy of this issue is presented in the collections of the Presidential Library and today is available to everyone from anywhere in the world.

Wait for me was published in the most difficult time - the first half-year of the Great Patriotic War and immediately brought real national glory to Konstantin Simonov.

Originally a deeply personal poem by the 26-year-old war correspondent, written in August 1941, has become universal. It turned into a kind of soldier's prayer, a spell-poem, a kind of bridge between life and death, which was supported by faith in the best.

This work was learned by heart, copied by hand and sent from the front to home and from the rear to the front, soldiers and officers kept it in the pockets of gymnasts. What at that moment was necessary for one person, what was important for him at that moment, turned out to be necessary for a great many people: faith in life, in the imminent end of the war, in returning home, where they believe, love and wait.

The major collection of the Presidential Library Memory of the Great Victory contains a large number of materials dedicated to the main events of the Great Patriotic War and individual people - participants in military battles and home front workers. These are biographies, testimonies, personal documents, diaries, photographs and much more.