Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Also mentioned in Wolf's City of Angels:
*
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 25, 1915[1] – June 19, 1953) and Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war and executed on June 19, 1953. Their charges were related to the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. This has been the only case in the history of the United States in which those accused of espionage were executed as a result.[2]
In 1995, the U.S. government released a series of decoded Soviet cables, codenamed VENONA, which confirmed that Julius acted as a courier and recruiter for the Soviets but which were ambiguous about Ethel's involvement.[3][4] The other atomic spies who were caught by the FBI offered confessions and were not executed, including Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, who supplied documents to Julius from Los Alamos and served 10 years of his 15-year sentence. Harry Gold, who identified Greenglass and served 15 years in Federal prison as the courier for Greenglass; and a German scientist, Klaus Fuchs.[5][6] Morton Sobell, who was tried with the Rosenbergs, served 17 years and 9 months of a 30-year sentence.[7] In 2008, Sobell admitted he was a spy and confirmed Julius Rosenberg was "in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets classified military and industrial information and what the American government described as the secret to the atomic bomb."[8]
[From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg]
It was morning. You heard on the radio that Ethel and Julius Rosenberg had been put to death in the electric chair that night in the USA. You cried. You stroked your small daughter's little head. I can still feel today, in my fingertips, how soft and fragile it was. I still remember that you thought: I will never forget this day. And I never did forget it.
*
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (September 25, 1915[1] – June 19, 1953) and Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war and executed on June 19, 1953. Their charges were related to the passing of information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. This has been the only case in the history of the United States in which those accused of espionage were executed as a result.[2]
In 1995, the U.S. government released a series of decoded Soviet cables, codenamed VENONA, which confirmed that Julius acted as a courier and recruiter for the Soviets but which were ambiguous about Ethel's involvement.[3][4] The other atomic spies who were caught by the FBI offered confessions and were not executed, including Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, who supplied documents to Julius from Los Alamos and served 10 years of his 15-year sentence. Harry Gold, who identified Greenglass and served 15 years in Federal prison as the courier for Greenglass; and a German scientist, Klaus Fuchs.[5][6] Morton Sobell, who was tried with the Rosenbergs, served 17 years and 9 months of a 30-year sentence.[7] In 2008, Sobell admitted he was a spy and confirmed Julius Rosenberg was "in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets classified military and industrial information and what the American government described as the secret to the atomic bomb."[8]
[From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg]
Comments