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Lena Constante (June 18, 1909 – November 2005) was a
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
n artist, essayist and memoirist, known for her work in stage design and
tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...
. A family friend of
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
politician Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, she was arrested by the
Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
following the conflict between Pătrăşcanu and
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party ...
. She was indicted in his trial and spent twelve years as a
political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
. Constante was the wife of the musicologist Harry Brauner, and the sister-in-law of the painter
Victor Brauner Victor Brauner (, also spelled Viktor Brauner; 15 June 1903 – 12 March 1966) was a Romanian painter and sculptor of the surrealist movement. Early life He was born in Piatra Neamț, Romania, the son of a Jewish timber manufacturer who subsequen ...
.


Biography

Born in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
, she was the daughter of an Aromanian journalist (who had immigrated from Macedonia) and his Romanian wife.Constante, in Spalas The Constante family left the city during the
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
, and Lena spent much of her childhood in Iaşi, Kherson, Odessa,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. Returning at the end of the conflict, she studied Painting at the Romanian Art Academy in Bucharest, and established friendships with leading
intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...
s of her time, including Brauner,
Mircea Vulcănescu Mircea Aurel Vulcănescu (3 March 1904 – 28 October 1952) was a Romanian philosopher, economist, ethics teacher, sociologist, and far-right politics, far-right politician. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance from 1941 to 1944 in the ...
,
Petru Comarnescu __NOTOC__ Petru Comarnescu (born 23 November 1905, Iași - d. 27 November 1970, Bucharest) was a Romanian literary and art critic and translator. Born in Iași into a family that was related to the metropolitan bishop Veniamin Costache, he studied ...
,
Henri H. Stahl Henri H. Stahl (also known as Henry H. Stahl or H. H. Stahl; 1901 – 9 September 1991) was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian. Biography Born in Bucharest to a family of Alsatian and ...
,
Mihail Sebastian Mihail Sebastian (; born Iosif Mendel Hechter; October 18, 1907 – May 29, 1945) was a Romanian playwright, essayist, journalist and novelist. Life Sebastian was born to a Jewish family in Brăila, the son of Mendel and Clara Hechter. After ...
, and Paul Sterian. During the period, she became sympathetic to
left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soc ...
Tismăneanu, "Memorie..." and joined the
sociological Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
project initiated by
Dimitrie Gusti Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister o ...
, aiding in the creation of comprehensive monographs on traditional Romanian society;Eldridge Miller, p.70; "Evocare..."; Humanitas biography her visits to various villages acquainted her with traditional folk art, especially
religious icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...
, which she later used as inspiration in her work. Constante first exhibited her art in 1934, and had personal shows in 1935, and 1946; her last exhibit before being arrested occurred in
Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
(1947).Humanitas biography After 1945, she was employed as a stage designer by the newly founded Ţăndărică Theater, where she met Elena Pătrăşcanu, Lucreţiu's wife. In early 1946, when Pătrăşcanu, who was Romania's Minister of Justice, decided to go against the will of his party and intervened in the standoff between
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Michael I Michael I may refer to: * Pope Michael I of Alexandria, Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in 743–767 * Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor (died in 844) * Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch Michael I of Constantin ...
and the
Petru Groza Petru Groza (7 December 1884 – 7 January 1958) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician, best known as the first Prime Minister of the Communist Party-dominated government under Soviet occupation during the early stages of the Commu ...
executive (''greva regală'' – "the royal
strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
"), she mediated between him and two well-known anti-communist figures Victor Rădulescu-Pogoneanu and Grigore Niculescu-Buzeşti, in an attempt to ensure their support for a political compromise. Together with her friend Brauner, as well as Remus Koffler,
Belu Zilber Belu Zilber (born Herbert Zilber; October 14, 1901–February 1978) was a Romanian communist activist. Born into a Jewish family in Târgu Frumos, Iași County, Dinu C. Giurescu, ''Dicționar biografic de istorie a României'', p.579. Editura M ...
,
Petre Pandrea Petre is a surname and given name derived from Peter. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Petre * Charles Petre Eyre (1817–1902), English Roman Catholic prelate * Ion Petre Stoican (circa 1930–1990), Romanian v ...
, Herant Torosian, Ionel Mocsony Stârcea, the engineer Emil Calmanovici, Alexandru Ştefănescu and others, she was implicated in Pătrăşcanu's 1954 trial, being sentenced to twelve years in prison. The person who took initiative in bringing her to trial was Securitate deputy chief
Alexandru Nicolschi Alexandru Nicolschi (born Boris Grünberg, his chosen surname was often rendered as Nikolski or Nicolski; russian: Александр Серге́евич Никольский, ; June 2, 1915 – April 16, 1992) was a Romanian communist activist, ...
.Golpenţia During repeated interrogations by the
Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...
, Constante tried to fend off false accusations of "
Titoism Titoism is a political philosophy most closely associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War. It is characterized by a broad Yugoslav identity, workers' self-management, a political separation from the Soviet Union, and leadership in th ...
" and "
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
", but, the victim of constant beatings and torture (much of her hair was torn from the roots), and confronted with Zilber's testimony — which implicated her —, she eventually gave in and admitted to the charges. Throughout the rest of her life, she maintained a highly critical view of Zilber, and expressed her admiration for Pătrăşcanu, who had for long resisted pressures and had been executed in the end. As she stated in 2004,
"I did not know ucreţiu Pătrăşcanutoo well. It was not ecause ofhim that I went to jail. Neither was it ecause ofMrs. Elena ătrăşcanu His friend, Belu Zilber, made us go to jail, me and my husband. Zilber was never pleased with all the things he kept inventing in his confessions and he would concoct some stuff that aimed to please the interrogators. To please heorghiu-ej."
For much of her time in prison, Constante was kept in virtually complete solitude, a special regime which she later attributed to her earlier refusal to confess. Repeatedly beaten and again tortured during her stay in special prisons for women, she much later confessed that she was never able to forgive the people responsible for her plight. She was freed in 1962; in 1963, she married Brauner, who had also been released. They both were rehabilitated during
Nicolae Ceauşescu Nicolae may refer to: * Nicolae (name), a Romanian name * ''Nicolae'' (novel), a 1997 novel See also *Nicolai (disambiguation) Nicolai may refer to: *Nicolai (given name) people with the forename ''Nicolai'' *Nicolai (surname) people with the s ...
's campaign of reviewing Romania's history under Gheorghiu-Dej (1968). Constante exhibited her works on two other occasions (in 1970 and 1971, both centered on tapestry and collage art). In 1990, after the
Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...
, she published her French-language autobiography ''L'évasion silencieuse'' ("The Silent Escape"), at the Éditions La Découverte in Paris. The volume, which
Vladimir Tismăneanu Vladimir Tismăneanu (; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is di ...
has compared to the works of
Margarete Buber-Neumann Margarete Buber-Neumann (21 October 1901 – 6 November 1989) was a German writer. As a communist, she wrote the memoir ''Under Two Dictators'' about her imprisonment within a Soviet prison, and later a Nazi concentration camp during World War ...
, is written as a diary, and makes use of her prolific memory, which allowed her to record an immense succession of days, years after events had passed. It won the Prize of French-Language Writers' Association, and was translated into English as '' The Silent Escape: Three Thousand Days in Romanian Prisons'', with a preface by Gail Kligman; the Romanian version (''Evadarea tăcută'') received the
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...
's ''
Lucian Blaga Lucian Blaga (; 9 May 1895 – 6 May 1961) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, playwright, poetry translator and novelist. He was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. Biography Blaga was born on 9 May 1895 ...
Prize''. In 1993, she also published ''Evadarea imposibilă. Penitenciarul politic de femei Miercurea Ciuc 1957–1961'' ("The Impossible Escape. The Political Prison for Women in
Miercurea Ciuc Miercurea Ciuc (; hu, Csíkszereda, ; german: Szeklerburg) is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, a mainly Hungarian-speaking ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt Ri ...
1957–1961"). In 1997, Constante starred as herself in ''Nebunia Capetelor'', a film by
Thomas Ciulei Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...
based on ''The Silent Escape''; Ciulei had originally intended to cast
Maia Morgenstern Maia Emilia Ninel Morgenstern (; born 1 May 1962) is a Romanian film and stage actress, Gabriela DumbaPur și SIMPLU, Maia Morgenstern, ("Pure and simple, Maia Morgenstern", but with a pun, because Simplu is a Romanian musical group with whom ...
as Constante, but ultimately decided to pay a special tribute to the book's theme ("I wanted to force the spectator to build himself an imaginary space, as Lena Constante had done when she was in her cell").Ciulei, on LiterNet


Notes


References

*
Biography
at the
Humanitas ''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below. Classical origins of term The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...
site *
"Evocare Lena Constante: expoziţie şi album"
in ''
Ziua ''Ziua'' (''The Day'' in Romanian) was a major Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It was published in Romanian with a fairly sizeable and often informative English section. ''Ziua'' was founded in 1994 by Sorin Roşca Stănescu, eve ...
'', November 30, 2005 *
"Un film despre Lena Constante: ''Nebunia capetelor'', de Thomas Ciulei, la ICR" ("A Film about Lena Constante: ''Nebunia Capetelor'', by Thomas Ciulei"), LiterNet press release
*

in ''Magazin Istoric'' * Ruxandra Cesereanu
"Reprezentanţii represiunii: anchetatorul rafinat, torţionarul sadic şi bufonul balcanizat" ("The Representatives of Repression: The Refined Inquirer, the Sadistic Torturer and the Balkanized Buffoon"), at Memoria.ro
* Jane Eldridge Miller, ''Who's Who in Contemporary Women's Writing'',
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...
,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, 2001 * Victor Frunză, ''Istoria stalinismului în România'' ("The History of Stalinism in Romania"),
Humanitas ''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below. Classical origins of term The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...
, Bucharest, 1990 *
Sanda Golpenţia, "Introducere la ''Ultima carte'' de Anton Golpenţia (Anchetatorii)" ("Introduction to Anton Golpenţia's ''Ultima carte'' (The Inquisitors)"), at ''Memoria.ro''
*
Ioan Lăcustă, "În Bucureşti, acum 50 de ani" ("In Bucharest, 50 Years Ago"), interview with Lena Constante
in ''Magazin Istoric'', April 2004 *

*
Vladimir Tismăneanu Vladimir Tismăneanu (; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is di ...
, ** ttps://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-arhiva-1198481-memorie-supravietuire-vladimir-tismaneanu.htm "Memorie şi supravieţuire" ("Memory and Survival") in ''
Cotidianul The logo used between 2003 and 2007 ''Cotidianul'' (meaning ''The Daily'' in English) is a Romanian language newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile Founded by Ion Raţiu, ''Cotidianul'' was first published on 10 May ...
'', December 2, 2005 ** ''Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism'',
University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...
,
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...
, 2003, {{DEFAULTSORT:Constante, Lena 1909 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Romanian painters 20th-century Romanian women artists Romanian essayists Romanian collage artists Women collage artists Romanian prisoners and detainees Romanian scenic designers Romanian women writers Romanian writers in French Tapestry artists Romanian people of Aromanian descent Theatre people from Bucharest Socialist Republic of Romania rehabilitations Romanian torture victims Romanian women essayists Women textile artists 20th-century essayists 20th-century memoirists Women memoirists Romanian memoirists