T he case of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the young Jewish American couple executed in June 1953 at the height of the cold war for allegedly passing atomic secrets to the Russians, has weighed . [43][44], The execution was delayed from the originally scheduled date of June 18, because Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas had granted a stay of execution on the previous day. During his bachelor party at a club on the night of June 19, Chin and three friends were read more, On June 15, 2006, on the remote island of Spitsbergen halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, the prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland lay the ceremonial first stone of the Global Seed Vault. There are some conflicting assessments among historians regarding the outcome of the Rosenberg trial. [52][53][54], Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, investigated how much the Soviet spy ring helped the USSR to build their bomb. Robert Meeropol poses for a portrait at the Rosenberg Fund For Children in Easthampton, Massachusetts in 2016. (review of. This collection provides interesting Agency insights on this post-WWII spy case. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, following their arrest by the FBI in New York city for espionage, 1950. But they would have been better advised to have said straight up, yes we are communists, but no, we are not spies.. [5][6], For decades many people including the Rosenbergs' sons (Michael and Robert Meeropol) maintained that Julius and Ethel were innocent of spying on their country and were victims of Cold War paranoia. Some of the individuals who worked on the Manhattan Project were spies and provided valuable information on the design of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. They could not be charged for treason since the U.S. was not at war with the USSR. During the next two years, the couple became the subject of both national and international debate. I believe your conduct in putting into the hands of the Russians the A-bomb years before our best scientists predicted Russia would perfect the bomb has already caused, in my opinion, the Communist aggression in Korea, with the resultant casualties exceeding 50,000 and who knows but that millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason. In 2014, five historians concluded thatSoviet documents show Ethel was actively involved and attended meetings with Julius and his sources, but that there is no evidence to suggest she typed specific notes. Or my mother or my father, OK? [78] In October 2016, both Michael and Robert Meeropol spoke with Anderson Cooper in an interview which aired on 60 Minutes. The direct evidence of the Rosenbergs involvement came from the confessions and testimonies of David and Ruth Greenglass. Ethels own brother, David Greenglass, testified against her, in a blatant act of perjury. Under Feklisov's supervision, Rosenberg recruited sympathetic individuals into NKVD service, including Joel Barr, Alfred Sarant, William Perl, and Morton Sobell, also an engineer. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. They were charged with conspiracy and providing atomic secrets to the USSR. [69], In 2008, Morton Sobell was interviewed after the revelations from grand jury testimony. He then claimed that he passed this information to Julius on a New York street corner, and that Ethel was not involved. Whether it was fair or not, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were the only two American civilians who were executed for espionage-related crimes during the entire Cold War. (Sobell and Gold received 30-year prison terms, and Greenglass, who was tried separately, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.) She originally was an aspiring actress and singer, but eventually took a secretarial job at a shipping company. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed for espionage during peacetime and their case remains controversial to this day. [36], Jean-Paul Sartre, a Marxist existentialist philosopher and writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, described the trial as, a legal lynching which smears with blood a whole nation. The boys went on to make successful careers in economics and law, and have families of their own. Author of. Just ten days before the start of the Rosenbergs trial in February 1951, David Greenglass re-testified, and changed his original statements. Michael and Robby Rosenberg were 10 and six respectively when their parents were executed. He admitted that he had given documents to the Soviet contact, but said these had to do with defensive radar and weaponry. [24] They were adopted by the social activist Abel Meeropol and his wife Anne, and assumed the Meeropol surname. Between the trial and the executions, there were widespread protests and claims of antisemitism; the charges of antisemitism were widely believed abroad[citation needed], but not among the vast majority in the United States. She was impassive in court, and poorly turned out, due to the fact they had very little money: Julius Rosenberg embarked upon espionage for his ideals, not for monetary reward. Copyright 2022 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. Her mother disowned her. In this testimony he named Julius and claimed he was recruited to join the Soviet spy ring by him. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were buried at Wellwood Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Pinelawn, New York. Ronald Radoshconcludes, after Sobells 2008 confessions, that the Rosenbergs were Soviet spies. [62] Ethel did not have a codename,[24] however, KGB messages which were contained in the Venona project's Vassiliev files, and which were not made public until 2009,[63][64] revealed that both Ethel and Julius had regular contact with at least two KGB agents and were active in recruiting not only Ethel's brother David Greenglass, but also another Manhattan Project spy named Russell McNutt. The subsequent trial of the Rosenbergs made news all over the world. They claimed that David gave a sketch and description of an atomic bomb to Julius in September 1945. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The case against Ethel in particular was rather . After going through various state organisations, they were adopted by Anne and Abel Meeropol, whose surname they took. Du Bois wrote a poem titled "The Rosenbergs", which began "Crucify us, Vengeance of God, as we crucify two more Jews" and ended "Who has been crowned on yonder stair? Some reports claim that the Rosenbergs were offered a plea deal, where admittance of their guilt would grant them a prison sentence. [26] Julius and Ethel were put under pressure to incriminate others involved in the spy ring. Timeline of Events Relating to the Rosenberg Trial. In 2008, the transcripts of 43 out of 46 witness testimonies before the grand jury were released, including Ruths testimony. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. And, in fact, the Rosenbergs themselves essentially believed that they had done nothing wrong in the grand scheme of things. He left the Communist Party to avoid suspicions. After learning about the trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, read about the Lavender Scare, the U.S. government's anti-gay purge. He escaped prosecution because his involvement was not proven until the Venona documents became unclassified. Harris, Brian. Martin J. Manning and Clarence R. Wyatt, eds. In February 1950, Fuchs was arrested in the United Kingdom. Three years after the trial, on June 19th, 1953 the Rosenbergs were executed. Due to the Greenglass August 1950 testimony, and no tangible evidence, there was a weak case against Ethel for her alleged involvement. Cohn would go on later to work for Senator Joseph McCarthy, appointed as chief counsel to the investigations subcommittee during McCarthy's tenure as chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee. Nickelodeons (named for a read more, Francesca Rojas two young children are killed in their home in the small town of Necochea, Argentina. "My wife is more important to me than my sister. On Solidarity Day, over 50,000 people flock to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. to protest, sing, hear speeches and demonstrate on behalf of national read more, Chinese American Vincent Chin, 27, is beaten in the head with a baseball bat by two white autoworkers in Detroiton June 19, 1982. They were orphaned by the executions and were not adopted by their many aunts or uncles, although they initially spent time under the care of their grandmothers and in a children's home. (. Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. Despite some public outrage and failed appeals, the Rosenbergs were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison on June 19, 1953. The project aimed to gather and decode messages sent by Soviet military intelligence (KGB and GRU) to the U.S. Venona would also help the government locate spy rings. Photograph: Craig F Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty. The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. In the United States of the late 1940s and 1950s, Fear was the overriding motif of the age, and fear breeds hysteria, Sebba says. Magic, witch-hunts, autos-da-f, sacrifices we are here getting to the point: your country is sick with fear you are afraid of the shadow of your own bomb. [7], Julius Rosenberg was born on May 12, 1918, in New York City to a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. They were persuaded to change their original stories. During the 1940s, the U. S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) conducted the Venona project. But at the trial, she testified that Ethel Rosenberg typed up notes about the atomic bomb. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Lawyers Emanuel Bloch and Alexander Bloch defended the Rosenbergs. The young couple were arrested in 1950 for . Ruth statedin her witness testimony:Julius then took the info into the bathroom and read it and when he came out he called Ethel and told her she had to type this info immediately. Or Black Despair? [10], According to a 2001 book by his former handler Alexander Feklisov, Rosenberg was originally recruited to spy for the interior ministry of the Soviet Union, NKVD, on Labor Day 1942 by former spymaster Semyon Semyonov. Many individuals still question whether or not there was enough valid evidence used during the trial to convict and execute the Rosenbergs. In 1990, he founded the Rosenberg Fund for Children, a nonprofit foundation that provides support for children of targeted liberal activists, and youth who are targeted as activists. Both Rosenbergs were sensationally sentenced to death by electrocution. As a result of this new testimony, all charges against Ruth Greenglass were dropped. Sebba says the only lesson history offers is that there are no lessons to be learned. Some atomic scientists have claimed that the information David and Julius passed along would not have been of great importance to the USSR because it was incomplete and not very detailed. Distinguished Professor of History, Baylor University. Seven different appeals reached the Supreme Court of the United States and were denied, and pleas for executive clemency were dismissed by Pres. Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg, Ethel Rosenberg ne Ethel Greenglass, (respectively, born May 12, 1918, New York, New York, U.S.died June 19, 1953, Ossining, New York; born September 28, 1915, New York Citydied June 19, 1953, Ossining), the first American civilians to be executed for conspiracy to commit espionage and the first to suffer that penalty during peacetime. Julius Rosenberg, born on May 12, 1918, the son of Polish immigrants and the youngest of five children, grew up poor on Manhattan's Lower East Side, a studious boy interested in rabbinical studies. Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg were American citizens executed for conspiracy to commit espionage, relating to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. There was genuine fear that the Russians and Stalin would launch an atom bomb on America. He also named Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as contacts and denied that his wife, Ruth Greenglass, was involved with any espionage activities. The execution of New York City couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg after their conviction for being Soviet spies was a major news event of the early 1950s. The Greenglasses never withdrew their new testimony. And she was the mother of my children. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/ AFP via Getty. Rosenberg had been introduced to Semyonov by Bernard Schuster, a high-ranking member of the Communist Party USA and NKVD liaison for Earl Browder. At a time when American fears about communism were high, the Rosenbergs did not receive support from mainstream Jewish organizations. They were both found guilty of the crimes of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union. [28][29] The prosecution's primary witness, David Greenglass, said that he turned over to Julius Rosenberg a sketch of the cross-section of an implosion-type atom bomb. In 1933, in his early teens, he became politically inflamed after hearing a street corner orator talk about Tom Mooney, a San Francisco labor leader who, said the speaker, had been unjustly . He said they had urged the death sentence for Ethel in an effort to extract a full confession from Julius. I believe there should be., Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy,by Anne Sebba, is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, A Small Town in Ukraine: Fascinating mapping of history and bloodshed around a geopolitical fault line, Eithne Strong swam against the tide. She knew what he was doing She was complicit merely by knowing, so thats why they charged them with conspiracy to commit espionage.. [42] Pope Pius XII appealed to President Dwight D. Eisenhower to spare the couple, but Eisenhower refused on February 11, 1953. I think she was clearly innocent of the charges but, on the other hand, I think she was supportive of Julius. "[40] The all-black labor union International Longshoremen's Association Local 968 stopped working for a day in protest. Ethel's brother says he trumped up evidence. This was the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, as opposed to a bomb with the "gun method" triggering device used in the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, is executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, the president of the Mexican Republic. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a. Browse pg9767.kgb resources on Teachers Pay Teachers, a marketplace trusted by millions of teachers for original educational resources. "[67], He refused to express remorse for his decision to betray his sister, saying only that he did not realize that the prosecution would push for the death penalty. He does, however, believe that the prosecutors worked to guarantee a conviction and abused the legal system. [35], Across the world, especially in Western European capitals, there were numerous protests with picketing and demonstrations in favor of the Rosenbergs, along with editorials in otherwise pro-American newspapers, and a plea for clemency from the Pope. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The family moved to the Lower East Side by the time Julius was 11. They were the only American civilians executed for espionage during the Cold War. Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (ne Greenglass; September 28, 1915 June 19, 1953) were an American couple who spied for the Soviet Union. Both were members of the Communist Party, with Julius being the far more active member. He later served 10 years in prison. ETHEL ROSENBERG. They also defendedSobell, who was put on trial with the Rosenbergs. Explains that one of the most famous cases of spies was the case of ethel and julius rosenberg, who were minor activists in the american communist party and convicted of being communists. He provided classified documents and led an espionage network within the Manhattan Project, recruiting spies, most notably Russell McNutt and Ethels brother,David Greenglass, along with his wifeRuth. This request was denied. She was viewed as a co-conspirator and never indicted. Her children were shunted around and then went into care. After Semyonov was recalled to Moscow in 1944 his duties were taken over by Feklisov. The Rosenbergs are still the only Americans ever put to death in peacetime for espionage, and Ethel is the only American woman killed by the US government for a crime other than murder. He said, "I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I don't remember. [73][24], After Morton Sobell's 2008 confession, they acknowledged their father had been involved in espionage, but said that whatever atomic bomb information he passed to the Russians was, at best, superfluous, that the case was riddled with prosecutorial and judicial misconduct, that their mother was convicted on flimsy evidence to place leverage on her husband, and that neither deserved the death penalty. Venona Documents from the National Security Archive. Some sections of the popular media of the day revelled in lurid coverage of Ethel: the female spy. He believed the execution of Ethel, a young mother, would reflect negatively on both the FBI and the Justice Department. Fuchs was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, and he confessed to spying for the Soviet Union. There was international outrage at her death. Or was he more likely to get off by pleading innocence for both of them? He also worked withKlaus Fuchs, a physicist at Los Alamos and Soviet spy, to pass on atomic research secrets. The three-year Rosenberg case culminated in their execution on Friday, 19 June, 1953, just minutes before the onset of the Jewish Sabbath. In later interviews, he claimed: I frankly think my wife did the typing, but I dont remember, and, My wife is more important to me than my sister. Overall, their testimony remains controversial because of the deal, the lack of tangible evidence, and the conflicting statements. Their legal team worked to have the verdict overturned, but their efforts failed. The trial lasted for nearly one month. John Charles Fremont of California, the famous explorer of the West, was nominated for the presidency, and William Lewis Dayton of New read more, On June 19, 1944, in what would become known as the Marianas Turkey Shoot, U.S. carrier-based fighters decimate the Japanese Fleet with only a minimum of losses in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Photograph: Kypros/ Getty. They hoped merely by arresting her on these trumped-up charges, surely Julius would talk, because thats what everyone else had done.. It was known that some communists, such as Fuchs, had spied for the Soviets. And the newspapers reported that because she was tougher, she needed more of a jolt. Well yes, she replies. "Thanks to information provided by their agents", Moynihan wrote in his book Secrecy, "they did it in four". He stated that Julius asked him to help provide secrets about atomic weapons so that Julius could pass on the information to the USSR. The Rosenbergs were small fry, but the government or the FBI or both were absolutely determined to make an example of them. As a young attorney in 1951, Cohn pushed for the execution of Meeropol's grandparents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges. The US government offered to spare the lives of both Julius and Ethel if Julius provided the names of other spies and they admitted their guilt. When she married Julius Rosenberg in 1939, the year he earned a degree in electrical engineering, the two were already active members of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). [30], On March 29, 1951, the Rosenbergs were convicted of espionage. Important research on electronics, communications, radar and guided missile controls was undertaken at Fort Monmouth during World War II. I find innocence quite a difficult word to use with Ethel, she says. At this time, Greenglass worked at Los Alamos. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. On March 6, 1951 their trial began in New Yorks Southern District federal court. Members of the communist party, the Rosenbergs were convicted of passing secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union in 1945. In the intervening decades, it has since been conclusively proved that David Greenglass committed perjury against his own sister. That same year, Sobell participated in an interview with theNew York Times. The documents also suggest the Ethel acted as an accessory to her husbands activity, but that she did not play a principal role. He was U.S. citizen and electrical engineer. All other appeals were also unsuccessful. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. Do not let this crime against humanity take place. There was proof, which was later produced in court. The Rosenbergs were implicated by David Greenglass, Ethels younger brother and a former army sergeant and machinist at Los Alamos, the secret atomic bomb lab in New Mexico. They took assumed names and he tried to figure out a way to reach Europe without a passport. Despite these fears, the trial of the Rosenbergs produced mixed reactions among the public. She describes Julius Rosenberg as a naive idealist. Ethel Greenglass met Julius Rosenberg in New York City in 1936, when she was 21 and he was 18. Online Documents. Ethels execution was botched. Trial and Execution. They married in 1939. [68], Numerous articles were published in 2008 related to the Rosenberg case. The engineers worked at top electronic firms, and they passed on confidential and useful information to the Soviet Union. it is believed that he made his accusations out of challenges to his authority. Give Bomb Data to Soviet Is Laid to His Sister Here", "Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg (American spies) Britannica Online Encyclopedia", "Judge Kaufman's Sentencing Statement in the Rosenberg Case", "The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg", "Nashville now and then: A lawyer's last gamble", "Funeral Tributes To Rosenbergs: Execution Denounced", "Never Losing Faith for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg", "False testimony clinched Rosenberg spy trial", "50 years later, Rosenberg execution is still fresh", "Khrushchev on Rosenbergs: Stoking Old Embers", "K.G.B. Harvard Law professorAlan Dershowitzstated that the Rosenbergs were guilty and framed, suggesting that they were spies, but that evidence was still fabricated against them, causing them to have an unjust trial and punishment. She had the unhappy distinction of being the first woman in the US to be executed for a crime other than murder. For this success Rosenberg received a $100 bonus. How. Their trial remains controversial today. He worked for a time at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, where research was going on into radar, missile controls and electronics. Opines that mccarthyism caused chaos in america. Deputy Attorney General of the United States William P. Rogers, who had been part of the prosecution of the Rosenbergs, discussed their strategy at the time in relation to seeking the death sentence for Ethel. Harry Gold, a lab chemist and Soviet spy, passed this information to the USSR. The cable also makes clear that the sister's husband is involved enough in espionage to have his own codename ("Antenna" and later "Liberal"). They claim:The Greenglasses lies were necessary to obtain Ethels conviction; the K.G.B. Chin died in a hospital four days later, on June 23. [46] The Times reported that 500 people attended, while some 10,000 stood outside:[50], The bodies had been brought from Sing Sing prison by the national "Rosenberg committee" which undertook the funeral arrangements, and an all-night vigil was held in one of the largest mortuary chapels in Brooklyn. They provided top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and valuable nuclear weapon designs. Their case against Ethel Rosenberg was resolved 10 days before the start of the trial, when David and Ruth Greenglass were interviewed a second time. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Themajority of newspapersat the time in the U.S. did, however, support the death sentence, arguing that the punishment was fair. In June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage under the U.S. Red Resurrection? Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, orig. He stated that he and Julius passed military and industrial information to the Soviet Union, hoping it would help them defeat the Nazis in World War II. "[52], At the grand jury, Ruth Greenglass was asked, "Didn't you write [the information] down on a piece of paper?" 2006. Omissions? McNutt was an engineer who worked at theKellexdesign bureau in New York City. Schneir argues that Ruth worked alone and met with a Soviet agent to deliver a sketch of a bomb, which was placed in a KGB file center on December 27, 1945. To this day, historians and scientists debate how much espionage sped up the progress of the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons program. He stated, I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. I think there could be some kind of exoneration, in that she was convicted on the basis of perjury, and for someone convicted on the basis of perjury, there should be a form of pardon. He said Julius had passed secrets and thus linked him to the Soviet contact agent Anatoli Yakovlev. On July 17, 1950 the FBI arrested Julius, and one month later Ethel was arrested. For two years the Rosenberg case was appealed through the courts and before world opinion. He also stated that he believed Ethel was only guilty of being Julius wife and was not an active participant in the espionage ring. [58] According to Alexander Feklisov, the former Soviet agent who was Julius's contact, the Rosenbergs did not provide the Soviet Union with any useful material about the atomic bomb: "He [Julius] didn't understand anything about the atomic bomb and he couldn't help us. There were protest marches held around the world at their sentence, including in Ireland. "You sat the Rosenbergs in the electric chair for nothing", he said. Her husband, Julius, had been executed a short time before her. [9], Julius Rosenberg joined the Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, in 1940, where he worked as an engineer-inspector until 1945. The constitutionality and applicability of the Espionage Act of 1917, under which the Rosenbergs were tried, as well as the impartiality of the trial judge, Irving R. Kaufmanwho in pronouncing sentence had accused them of a crime worse than murderwere key issues during the appeals process. On April 5, Judge Kaufman sentenced them to death, and sentenced Sobell to 30 years in prison. The Meeropols were both teachers, and Abel was also a lyricist. Sobell and Julius Rosenberg, classmates together in college, dedicated themselves to the cause of Communism. John Philip Jenkins; 3 1952, -, , ) , Meeropol, Michael, " 'A Spy Who Turned His Family In': Revisiting David Greenglass and the Rosenberg Case,", This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 07:05. Not answering questions proved to be problematic for the Rosenbergs because during theera of McCarthyism, many believed that the refusal to answer questions was an admission of guilt and involvement with the Communist Party. For all questions, she asserted her right to not answer as provided by the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. It was the wrong advice to them to go on pleading the Fifth Amendment because it made it seem as if they were on trial for being communists, which at some subliminal level, of course they were. How much does Sebba think that Ethel knew? They were convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Espionage in one of the most hotly-debated trials in U.S. history. The children say that their father did not deserve the death penalty and that their mother was wrongly convicted. Julius Rosenberg was a key Soviet spy who passed along information to the Soviet Union and recruited Manhattan Project spies. The extent of the Rosenbergs' activities came to light, however, when the U.S. government declassified information about them after the fall of the Soviet Union. An effort to extract a full confession from Julius this collection provides interesting Agency insights this. Alamos and Soviet spy ring against her, in a hospital four days later, on June 19, the! Radoshconcludes, after Sobells 2008 confessions, that the Rosenbergs were convicted of passing secret information about radar! Contact us the FBI in New York street corner, and sentenced Sobell to 30 years prison... To Moscow in 1944 his duties were taken over by Feklisov the Supreme court of the Communist Party the! 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Engines, and the Justice Department accessory to her husbands activity, but that she not! Activist Abel Meeropol, whose surname they took assumed names and he was 18 with Julius the! Treason since the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was put on trial the! Verify and edit content received from contributors, in 2008 related to the Lower East Side by time! Their mother was wrongly convicted years, the lack of tangible evidence, May... 2008 confessions, that the punishment was fair execution of Ethel: the female.. February 1951, David Greenglass, was involved with any espionage activities released, including in.. On June 23 subject of both national and international debate firms, and they on... Did not play a principal role civilians executed for espionage, 1950 a weak case against Ethel for alleged. U.S. did, however, support the death sentence, including in Ireland Ireland. 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