Shostakovich lived in fear most of his life because if Josef Stalin, the Soviet dictator, did not like his music he could have been sent to prison or put to death. Sometimes Shostakovich was made a hero by the government and sometimes he was told that his music was not good because it was not in the style that the government thought he should write it in. The symphony was very popular at first in countries that fought on the same side as Russia in World War II, as well as in Russia. It was performed many times in the United States and the United Kingdom. Many people in these countries liked the symphony because it seemed to show the Russians as heroes fighting to save their city from the Germans. Later, during the Cold War, many people in these same countries did not like the work very much, because the Russians were now their enemies and they thought that music written there was propaganda meant to show Russia and its leaders as better than other countries and their leaders. In more recent years, people have once more changed their minds about the meaning of the music. The music is now thought by some people who study music to show how cruel Stalin was as well as the terror of the Nazi invasion. Other people still think it was meant to support the Russian government and army as they fought the Germans, and to remember the people who died fighting.