Cosmetics in Prague

The largest of them were factories operating at 22 and 24 Szwedzka Street in New Praga.   In the years 1919-1920, the joint stock company  ‘Wotitz’ took over the  ‘Praga’ Chemical Plant Joint Stock Company, which produced acid, sulphates, waxes, lubricants and petroleum jelly, and had operated at this address since 1896.   Some of the shareholders of the joint stock company  ‘Wotitz ‘ were representatives of the German firm  ‘Schicht’.  Instead of chemical products, toilet and laundry soaps, washing powders, turpentine and varnishes have been produced here since the takeover.  In 1920, the factory was taken over by the Joint Stock Company  ‘Saturnia;’ among its products there were three types of soap:  ‘Jeleń-Schicht,’  ‘Saturnia’ and  ‘Merkur,’ plus the famous washing powder  ‘Radion,’ which supposedly cleaned by itself, if one is to believe the  ‘Song About Radion’ performed by Tadeusz Faliszewski.   Over the following years, the owners changed, which also meant a change of the name of the factory itself.   In the minds of Praga residents it is thought of as as  ‘Schicht’ or  ‘Pollena’.