Since the topics chosen were controversial at the time, Requiem was written in 1940 but was not published. Akhmatova believed publishing the work during that period would be too dangerous and felt it was better to keep it reserved in her head, only revealing it to some of her closest friends. Requiem was first published without Ahkmatova's consent in 1963 in Munich.[7] The complete text was not published in the Soviet Union until 1987.[8]