Unsealing Secrets Of The Rosenbergs

[Purveyor]

By Jeff Gammage

Inquirer Staff Writer
For 50 years the Rosenberg spy case has been examined and reexamined in hundreds of books, doctoral theses, documentary films, Hollywood movies, and even a theatrical production.

It seems impossible that there could be anything left to discover.

But there is. And people may soon have access to it.

Two Philadelphia historians have joined a research institute and library in seeking what's believed to be the last trove of documents from the defining espionage case of the Cold War: hundreds of pages of secret grand-jury testimony that preceded the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who died in the electric chair at Sing Sing prison in 1953.

"All of these people who testified, what did they say about the key participants?" asked Temple University historian Allen Hornblum, one of the petitioners. "What will underscore what we believe? What will move us in a new direction?"

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Manhattan will hear arguments on whether the file should be made public. U.S. attorneys have agreed to release testimony from 35 of the 45 witnesses who appeared before the grand jury in 1950 and 1951. But they oppose opening material from witnesses who are still living, could not be found, or want their testimony kept secret.

The government mostly consented to the argument of the independent, nongovernmental National Security Archive at George Washington University that the case's historic importance merits a legal exception to the rule that seals grand-jury records forever.

The Rosenbergs were accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II, when the Soviets were America's allies. After a sensational 1951 trial, they were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. Two years later, they became the first - and so far the last - American civilians to be prosecuted and put to death for spying.

Among the witnesses who did not agree to release his testimony is David Greenglass, Ethel Rosenberg's brother and a main witness against the couple at their trial. He allegedly gave the Rosenbergs secrets stolen from his job at the Los Alamos research lab, where scientists were creating the atomic bomb. The National Security Archive contends Greenglass waived his privacy rights by granting interviews to an author and to the news program 60 Minutes II.

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[rpannier]

1. I think they were guilty

However, (to borrow from an episode of Law and Order Criminal Intent) "You can never have enough truth or justice"

They should open the entire case.
It should irrelevant whether the people want their testimony kept a secret or whether they're dead, alive or unknown.

It would be one of the great injustices in American legal history if we found out they were innocent.
But it is something we should know.

[kskiska]

2. Read "The Brother," by Sam Roberts

about David Greenglass. He was on 60 Minutes a few years ago and admitted he lied to implicate his sister Ethel and made a deal with the feds so his wife, who was much more involved than Ethel, would never do prison time.

Sure, they were involved in passing information to the Russians, who were our allies at the time, but the information wasn't considered valuable, and certainly didn't warrant the death penalty. Klaus Fuchs gave the Russians the good stuff, confessed, and got 14 years in England and was stripped of his British citizenship and allowed to emigrate to Germany.