The work of Anna Akhmatova was also condemned by the regime, although she notably refused the opportunity to escape to the West. During the time when the Party was trying to make Soviet regime more palatable to Ukrainians, a great deal of national self-determination and cultural development was tolerated. [2] After this short period of the renaissance of Ukrainian literature ended more than 250 Ukrainian writers died during the Great Purge, for example Valerian Pidmohylnyi (1901–1937), in the so-called Executed Renaissance.