Activists Mark 1953 Rosenberg Execution

Dayton Daily News/Associated Press ^ | 6/17/03 | JIM FITZGERALD

[DPB101]

OSSINING, N.Y. (AP)--Pete Seeger was in New York City's Union Square in 1953 along with 5,000 other supporters of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg as the hour of the couple's execution drew near.

``We were waiting and hoping Eisenhower would give a last-minute reprieve,'' says Seeger, now 84.

``We learned that wouldn't happen, and then a great sigh, a great wail went up from the crowd when the time came and we knew they'd been executed.''

On the 50th anniversary of the execution Thursday, Seeger, Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and other show business activists will appear at a benefit for the Rosenberg Fund for Children, which assists children of people imprisoned, attacked or fired for taking a public stand.

Robert Meeropol, the Rosenbergs' younger son, who runs the fund, calls it his ``constructive revenge.''

The execution of the Rosenbergs in the electric chair at Sing Sing on June 19, 1953, ended one of the most sensational cases of the McCarthy era. It was the first execution of civilians for espionage in U.S. history.

The Rosenbergs were arrested in 1950, accused of relaying to the Soviet Union secrets of the atomic bomb. They allegedly recruited Mrs. Rosenberg's brother, David Greenglass, who worked at the site of the first atom bomb test in New Mexico. Greenglass became a star witness against the Rosenbergs, testifying that he saw his sister transcribing his spy notes on a typewriter.

The judge who passed sentence, Irving Kaufman, told the Rosenbergs their actions had led to the Korean War and all its casualties, and added: ``Millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason.''

There were appeals, stays of execution and pleas for mercy from Pope Pius XII and Albert Einstein.

Morton Sobell, who was convicted with the Rosenbergs but spared the death penalty, was at Alcatraz when a guard told him they had been put to death.

``My emotions had already been hardened by the prison life,'' says Sobell, 86, who served 18 years.

``But the guard was kindhearted about it and even my fellow inmates knew it was like someone from my family had been killed.''

Meeropol, who was 6 at the time and was known then as Robbie Rosenberg, recalls: ``We were watching a ball game on television when trailers started coming across the screen about the scheduled execution. The adults sent us outside to play so we wouldn't see the news accounts and we played catch until it was too dark to see the ball. My parents had been killed right around sunset.''

A year and a half ago, Greenglass announced that he lied about the typewriter--and some other matters--to save himself and his wife.

While decoded Soviet messages released in recent years appear to show that Julius Rosenberg was indeed a spy, supporters say nothing he contributed to the Soviets--and certainly nothing his wife did--warranted the electric chair.

Meeropol's memoir, ``An Execution in the Family'' is being published on the anniversary. In it, he recounts his vague memories of Rosenberg family life; his and his brother's adoption by Abel and Anne Meeropol; his own studies of his parents' case, which opened him to the possibility they may have been spies; and his difficulty in understanding why parents of small children would engage in such risk.

But Meeropol is also suspicious that recently released evidence may be government ``disinformation.''

``What a horror story it would be for me to accept it and then later find out that I've spread their propaganda for them,'' he says. ``I couldn't live with myself.''

``My bottom line, instead, is that the United States government executed two people for doing something they knew those people didn't do.''

On the Net:

Rosenberg Fund for Children: http://www.rfc.org

[SpaceBar]

All we have to do now is execute 364 more commies, and we can celebrate all year round.

[CatoRenasci]

The evidence from the Soviet archives indicates the Rosenbergs were indeed Soviet spies. They were properly executed.

[Lael]

The judge who passed sentence, Irving Kaufman, told the Rosenbergs their actions had led to the Korean War and all its casualties, and added: ``Millions more of innocent people may pay the price of your treason.''

Does anyone know if the LIGHTS DIMMED in New York City when the Switch was Thrown???

Seriously, there were many who feared that an almost RINO Eisenhower would cave to the Commies, who at that time included significant Pluralities in Italy and France.

[Paleo Conservative]

Excellent reason to celebrate on June 19.

[Lael]

In it, he recounts his vague memories of Rosenberg family life; his and his brother's adoption by Abel and Anne Meeropol;

Meeropol...Rosenberg...

Once a Rosenberg, always a Rosenberg!

[Tijeras_Slim]

I was married 40 years later to the day!

[Alouette]

Once a Rosenberg, always a Rosenberg!

The Rosenberg boys were sent to the "Ohel Foster Home" (a Jewish orphanage), but the Merropols (comrades of the parents) pulled them out of there very quickly because they thought the place was too religious.

[Cincinatus]

On the 50th anniversary of the execution Thursday, Seeger, Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and other show business activists will appear

((Sigh)).... the usual suspects. How tiresome.

[Tacis]

"Hey, fellow activists!! Can you bunch up a little more, we want to take a couple of group pictures."

Some good pictures will be useful in fifty years when we award grants from the Fund For The Children of American Traitors.

[headsonpikes]

I hope there were lots of flashbulbs popping at this conclave, as a reminder of the manner of the Rosenberg's departure.

[cwb]

I believe it was also well documented in the Venona document dump in July of 1995.

[Rodsomnia]

I think RFC.org could qualify as a terrorist organization by funding the upkeep for children of criminal leftists killed while spying, or instigating riots.

If they didn't have a "safety net" for their spawn they may not be so inclined to start wars & steal private property.

I hate communists, they should all be sentenced to live in Communist states.

It's damn non-profit organization too.

[Bringbackthedraft]

I remember the era well. The AFL CIO had leaflets printed to spare their lives, I still have one in my posession. Lets elect Hillary in 2008 and we can declare June "Rosenberg Month"! They (Rosenbergs) gave our "Ultra Secret" information to the new enemy and therefore certainly got what was coming to them. (Hmmmmm what secrets were released to the Chicoms since then? Maybe we should look into that too?)

[cwb]

Quote:

"On the 50th anniversary of the execution Thursday, Seeger, Susan Sarandon, Harry Belafonte and other show business activists will appear at a benefit for the Rosenberg Fund for Children, which assists children of people imprisoned, attacked or fired for taking a public stand."

Talk about revisionism. Is "taking a public stand" the new euphemism for treason? Sure...and the CP USA was never directly funded by the Soviet Union. Give me a break.

[CatoRenasci]

yup

[Freedom4US]

While decoded Soviet messages released in recent years appear to show that Julius Rosenberg was indeed a spy, supporters say nothing he contributed to the Soviets--and certainly nothing his wife did--warranted the electric chair.

What utter nonsense. ANYONE who was a commie spy logically deserves the chair. The damage that they did to the US and free peoples everywhere is incalcuble and may never be known. If it is prudent to keep spies alive, that is another issue altogether. To have supported them prior to soviet era archives is one thing - perhaps remotely justified by immediate family, perhaps - but AFTER - forget it.

[backhoe]

The Rosenberg Case- Spies, Scapegoats, or something inbetween?

[backhoe]

Also:

 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/929408/posts

Yes, They Were Guilty. But of What Exactly? [NYT FINALLY admits Rosenbergs were guilty!]
NY Times ^ | June 15, 2003 | SAM ROBERTS

 

 

Retrying the Rosenbergs

[19th LA Inf]

I was in DC on one of the last days of Truman's term and I snapped a picture of demonstrators in front of the WH carrying "Save the Rosenbergs" signs. I remember another young guy telling me I was "wasting my film". Couldn't figure out which side he was on.