'Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy,' highly recommended

 

Ethel Rosenberg was killed by the U.S. government because of her spouse. Without evidence or proof that she committed treasonous acts worthy of death, the U.S. government executed her and her husband on June 19, 1953, “to prove a point,” to play bluff with her and Julius, her husband, trying to get each to rat on the other. 

But they had nothing to give.

The Soviets said later they didn't need the little information Julius had about the development of the atom bomb. They scoffed at the idea that it was because of them that the Rosenbergs were executed. 

Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, later admitted he lied during testimony, words which sent his sister to the electric chair. He said he lied to protect his wife, also involved in the scheme but never charged. David Greenglass played a much larger role than Ethel Rosenberg, yet he got less than 10 years in prison.

In Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy, Anne Sebba furnishes a well-documented, gripping story of the first woman executed by the U.S. government since 1865 when Mary Surratt was hanged for the death of President Abraham Lincoln.

Ms. Sebba's accounting is an engrossing biography about Ms. Rosenberg and her long love affair with Julius. 

The ending is based on original letters the Rosenbergs exchanged while in prison and what appears to an infatuation Ethel had with a psychotherapist.

Ethel's chief desire was to be a good mother for the couple's two sons, Michael, 7, and Robert, 3, who were forced into a children's home when their parents were taken to jail, after their grandmother, Ethel's mother, and other relatives refused to take the boys in. 

Ethel questioned her own motherly abilities. 

She wanted to be an opera singer and during her prison confinement, entertained guards and other prisoners with her singing. Because she was considered "dangerous" (?), the government forced her into solitary confinement the last two years of her life.

Presiding at their trial, Judge Irving Kaufman became a witness for the prosecution. Roy Cohn, a friend of Donald Trump and chief legal counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, was a chief prosecutor who prided himself on the Rosenbergs' executions, claiming the judge followed his recommendations. 

The Rosenbergs' bail had been set at $100,000 which today is equivalent to one million dollars.

Because of their clients' notoriety, the Rosenbergs' two attorneys, lacking the skills and experience for a death trial, were unable to recruit other practiced lawyers to help them.

Three million letters from around the world poured in, pleading for reduced sentencing for the couple; thousands protested at the White House. 

Albert Einstein and Pope Pius XII pleaded for reduced sentencing for the couple, but not President Eisenhower, not President Truman, not Eleanor Roosevelt, nor the U.S. Supreme Court (with Justice Hugo Black dissenting) would relent. 

And the "civil rights" organization, the ACLU which boasts today about its "attorneys nationwide" who help "handle thousands of cases each year on behalf of clients whose rights have been violated" ignored the pleas to come to the aid of Ethel Rosenberg.

This is a sad story of a couple, deeply in love, caught in the wave of the 1950s Red hysteria, the only civilians killed by the U.S. government for espionage-related activity during the Cold War.

It's an important story in the annals of American history which proves judges, juries, and the U.S. Supreme Court are swayed by events of the times. 

Ethel Rosenberg is not dead.  She lives on, proof that the American justice system is not just. 

Thank you, Ms. Sebba.

For the next edition, may I suggest a simple family tree and a two-sentence biographical identification about the major players. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

ReplyForward

Must-see film: the Rosenbergs' story, 'Heir to an Execution'

At a National Archives presentation last week, the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenbergs, Michael Meeropol, recommended this book, Final Verdict: What Really Happened in the Rosenberg Case by Walter Schneir

The documentary, Heir to an Execution, depicts the love story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and their sons Michael and Robert, ages 10 and 7, as the parents were convicted by the U.S. government of passing secrets to the Soviets and were put to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York on June 19, 1953.

In splendid detail the film, produced and directed by the Rosenbergs' granddaughter, filmmaker Ivy Meeropol, charts the ends of her grandparents' lives, the trial, and the aftermath in a balanced portrait with film history, newspaper clippings, interviews with major characters, visits to the courtroom, and the apartment where the Rosenbergs lived on the Lower East Side when Mr. Rosenberg was arrested.  Also, the cemetery where they are buried which Michael Meeropol had never visited until the movie's filming.

On stage November 12, 2014 at National Archives were Ivy Meeropol and her father, the Rosenbergs' son, Michael Meeropol/Photo by Patricia Leslie

,
Both Meeropols are so likable, so homespun, far more charming than anyone could have expected. If Michael Meeropol had a chip on his shoulder, who could blame him? But there was none to be found.

Ivy and Michael Meeropol at National Archives, November 12, 2014/Photo by Patricia Leslie

When no family member came forward to adopt the boys after their parents' deaths, activists Abel and Anne Meeropol did. "They literally saved our lives," Michael said onstage.   "We have love and tremendous respect for Anne and Abel."  He said his stepparents had lost two children at birth and later, from photographs, Michael Meeropol learned Abel was a pallbearer at his parents' burials. 

Michael (left) and Robert Rosenberg with their parents' attorney, Emanuel Hirsch Bloch, at Sing Sing Prison/From the film, Heir To An Execution, 2004

In the film, a cousin, one of the few relatives who agrees to communicate with Ivy Meeropol about her grandparents, breaks down and cries over his parents' refusal to help the Rosenberg children after the executions. He apologizes to Ivy. 

Spliced throughout the film are visuals of the two boys, dressed up in coats and ties, coming and going to visit their parents in prison.

They saw their mother and father separately in prison because authorities wanted to keep the couple apart, to prevent their physical closeness. The Rosenbergs were able to meet and touch fingertips when Mr. Rosenberg, in a cage, was transported to visit Mrs. Rosenberg in her cell, Mr. Meeropol said.

Michael Meeropol at National Archives, November 12, 2014/Photo by Patricia Leslie

They were executed on the same day.  Mr. Rosenberg went first.  Because of Mrs. Rosenberg's diminutive size, the electrical charges did not initially work, and a second round of electricity was applied.  Eyewitnesses reported smoke rose from the top of her head.

Until the government released the Venona papers in 1995 which provided proof their father passed secrets, the boys grew up firmly believing in their parents' innocence.  The guilt of their mother has never been proved.  She was not linked with any direct proof to the case, and never had a code name, like her sister-in-law, Ruth Greenglass, saved by Ethel's brother, David Greenglass who later admitted he lied about his sister's role in the spy ring to protect his wife.  Ultimately, he sentenced Ethel Rosenberg to death.  Greenglass died July 1, 2014, but his death was not uncovered and reported until October 14, 2014, by the New York Times.

Mr. Meeropol said Heir To An Execution was his daughter's idea, and although he and his wife were skeptical initially, "we felt she was ready and capable, and we had total trust in her....and felt like she could make a real contribution."  Another of Ms. Meeropol's documentaries is All About Abe (2007), all about D.C.'s Abe Pollin, the developer of Verizon Center.

With eerie and haunting qualities, Heir's music by Human matches the film contents.

One questioner in the audience asked the speakers about comparisons between Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, and the Rosenbergs. Michael Meeropol replied that if Mr. Snowden returned to the U.S. from Russia, he would be tried under the same Espionage Act the U.S. government used to find Mr. Meeropol's parents guilty. 

Along with Freedom Riders, Ms. Meeropol's Heir to an Execution: A Granddaughter's Story, first released in 2004 and shortlisted for an Academy Award, should be part of every American history class. Both films paint modern-day true portraits of America which are so unthinkable, they could pass for fiction.

The people of the United States are grateful to National Archives for screening the film and inviting the Rosenbergs' heirs to appear. The event was part of Archives' exhibit, Making Their Mark: Stories Through Signatures, on display through January 4 or 5 (two dates given), 2015. 

The National Archives has the original letter Michael wrote to President Eisenhower on February 16, 1953, pleading with the president to save his parents from execution.

patricialesli@gmail.com