The Rosenberg File;A Search for the Truth. Amazon link here.
Posted on 11/02/2007 12:22:55 PM PDT by ckilmer
Yahoo! News Back to Story - Help Rosenbergs' Soviet spy overseer dies
2 hours, 40 minutes ago
Alexander Feklisov, the Soviet-era spy chief who oversaw the espionage work of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and helped mediate the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, has died, a Russian official said Friday. He was 93.
Feklisov died Oct. 26, said Sergei Ivanov, a spokesman for the Foreign Intelligence Service, one of the successor agencies to the KGB. He gave no cause of death.
Born March 9, 1914, in Moscow to a railroad signalman's family, Feklisov was trained as a radio technician and was recruited into the American department of the KGB's predecessor, the NKVD, according to his official biography posted on the Foreign Intelligence Service's Web site.
He arrived in New York in 1941 and during his five-year stint "completed a series of crucial tasks aimed at acquiring secret scientific-technical information including in the areas of electronics, radiolocation and jet aircraft technology."
Years later, he published an autobiography "The Man Behind the Rosenbergs" in which he described his work guiding the intelligence-gathering work of the couple. The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 after being convicted of supplying the Soviet Union with top-secret information on U.S. efforts to develop the atomic bomb.
Feklisov said Rosenberg was a Soviet sympathizer who handed over secrets on military electronics, but not the atomic bomb. He said Ethel Rosenberg played no part in spying — claims that were consistent with declassified U.S. intercepts of Soviet spy communications.
He was later dispatched to London, where he made contact with Klaus Fuchs, the German-born scientist who worked at the U.S. atom bomb project as well as at Britain's Harwell nuclear research laboratory. Information passed to the Soviets by Fuchs and another spy, David Greenglass, gave the Soviets crucial new information on a new way to ignite an atomic bomb.
In 1950, Fuchs was sentenced to 14 years for disclosing nuclear secrets.
"Fuchs ... provided important nuclear information, including on the structure of the hydrogen bomb," according to the intelligence service biography.
Feklisov later spent four years in Washington — where he was known as Alexander Fomin — and was a behind-the-scenes intermediary between the Kremlin and Washington during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, which brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of war.
He had two codenames. The other [either before or after “Liberal”] was “Engineer”. Greenglass was Ethel’s brother, or brother-in-law.
Bump for later read...
“... Ethyl was truly innocent ...”
Please read posts 14 and 16.
Ignore this man behind the iron curtain, he didn’t exist, they were never spies. (Sarcasism off)
Handler? You mean to tell me that they were actual spies, putting the lives of millions of Americans at risk? Why thats not what liberals and the NY Slimes says.
That is very interesting.
Were you a Red Diaper Baby by chance like your co-author?
“The Soviet archives exonerated Ethyl as well. Julius was as guilty as sin, but Ethyl was truly innocent when sent to her death.”
Fortunately, we have accounts from others involved that put Ethyl squarely involved in the espionage. I would trust facts from the Venona intercepts. I would hesitate to use offerings from Soviet spies standing alone. These men were extremely dedicated and one needs to consider there versions as possibly being cover stories.
The "handed over secrets on military electronics, but not the atomic bomb" means to some liberals (that will admit even that much) that the Rosenbergs were not guilty of treason. Of course the atomic bomb is just one of a multitude of military secrets so obviously the Rosenbergs were guilty of treason. And the fact that Ethel didn't procure or exchange information (I believe that was the case) does not exonerate her from the reality that she knew all about her husband's doings and gave material support on a personal/local level.
I’m going to presume that you are Joyce Milton. If so- Howdy!
I’ve been meaning to read your book so I ‘ve put it on my list.
If I remember correctly your co-author, Mr. Radosh, had intially believed the Rosenbergs innocent and planned to show so to his satisfaction. Then during the course of his research he learned the truth of their activities and the revelation was a political/reality epiphany. Very similar to David Horowitz in upbringing and eventual enlightenment. I believe it was an interview or article on Horowitz’s Front Page Mag where I read of Radosh’s crash with reality.
Anyhow, nice to meet you in a cyber sense.
Thanks for the ping. The Rosenbergs were born too early. Treason is now politically correct.
Interesting thread to read.
Treason, it’s the new black.
They weren't convicted of treason. Just espionage. They re the only two Americans ever executed for espionage in peacetime; if it the prosecution had the information then that we have now, they would still have been convicted, but I doubt they would have gotten the death penalty.
“Feklisov died Oct. 26, said Sergei Ivanov, a spokesman for the Foreign Intelligence Service, one of the successor agencies to the KGB. He gave no cause of death.”
Gave no cause of death? Could it have been a bullet to the back of the head in the basement of the Lubyanka?
Do they still do that? Just wondering.
In a conspiracy, every participant in the conspiracy is as guilty as the one who actually commits the act.
Ethel recruited her own brother for Julius’ spy ring, and Ethel typed up Julius’ notes that were handed over to the Socviet agent.
Had she cooperated with the FBI, her life would have been spared. They were pressuring her to get to Julius, and the other members of his spy ring. She was proudly defiant and refused, even when faced with the gloomy future of her two little boys.
A woman who loved Stalin more than she loved her own children and her own country.
All material from the New York Times must be properly excerpted and have a working link.
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