Lena Constante was a Romanian artist, essayist, and memoirist, known for her work in stage design and tapestry. A family friend of Communist Party politician Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, she was arrested by the Communist regime following the conflict between Pătrășcanu and Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. She was indicted in his trial and spent twelve years as a political prisoner.

Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania (PCR), also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at the University of Bucharest. Pătrășcanu rose to a government position before the end of World War II and, after having disagreed with Stalinist tenets on several occasions, eventually came into conflict with the Romanian Communist government of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. He became a political prisoner and was ultimately executed. Fourteen years after Pătrășcanu's death, Romania's new communist leader, Nicolae Ceaușescu, endorsed his rehabilitation as part of a change in policy.