Rosenberg sons seek documents to clear mom's name 70 years after execution

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: UPI

June 20 (UPI) -- The aging sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg -- the infamous American couple executed for spying 70 years ago this week -- are demanding the U.S. government release all records related to the case in an effort to prove their mother's innocence. In an online statement published on Tuesday's anniversary, Michael and Robert Meeropol -- now ages 80 and 76 -- called on National Intelligence Director Avril Haines to publicize thousands of documents held at the National Archives and National Security Agency.

Last year, the brothers filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for the NSA to release as many as 200 boxes containing more than 500,000 classified papers about their parents' actions before they were put to death on June 20, 1953. "We would like to know the full truth about our mother's case before we die," the brothers said in a statement. "On the 70th anniversary of our parents' execution, we call on Haines to follow her own wise counsel and direct the NSA and the National Archives to open these files to us and to every American."

The Rosenbergs were in their 30s when they were sent to the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing Prison following their convictions on federal charges of conspiracy to commit espionage."Plain, deliberate, contemplated murder is dwarfed in magnitude by comparison with the crime you have committed," Judge Irving Kaufman said in sentencing them to death on April 5, 1951. "Millions ... may pay the price of your treason," he said.

The true depth of their involvement in the Soviet spy ring, however, was a secret that went to the grave as the Rosenbergs refused to cooperate with the government to save themselves, remaining closemouthed in a final act of defiance. The Rosenberg's children, meanwhile, were orphaned at 10 and 6, and as they grew older began to have serious doubts about their mother's exact role in the crime, while acknowledging they have questioned and re-examined their own theories through the years.

Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/06/20/julius-ethel-rosenberg-records-spy-execution/7261687255459/

[catbyte]

1. She gets executed and that thing whose done so much worse gets to run for POTUS.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Roy Cohn was obsessed with getting Ethel Rosenberg executed.

[70sEraVet]

3. I know that my grandparents had their last name legally changed the year they were executed.

I'm guessing it was not a good time to have a Jewish last name in this country.
I hope the sons are successful, and that our country is able to come to terms with all of its past sins.

[orleans]

4. that is so sad about your grandparents changing their name

and it's even more sad that people had to do this/wanted to do this.

when i was around 14 yrs old i remember my mom could tell a person's nationality by the last name and it drove me crazy. she wasn't an asshole about it--it was just something she could do. i'm guessing most adults could do that.

anyway, i made it a thing that i didn't want to know how to do that, how to tell a person's background just from a fucking name. i didn't want to be pigeonholing & stereotyping people. (i had my dad's last name which was definitely not a clue as to the other five or six nationalities that were also part of me on my mom's side.) i prided myself on my INability to tell nationalities/ethnicities from a name for years!

lol

it wasn't until i was in my late forties/early fifties that i could draw connections between a last name and the origin. but i wasn't that great at it and i'm still not.

at any rate, i also hope the sons are finally able to be successful in getting the papers on their parents declassified.

[Behind the Aegis]

5. Many Jews changed their names to sound less Jewish.

My family did. When I was searching documents in Ukraine using our last name it was a no-go until I realized, oops, I was using the "wrong" name. Using the uncut (giggle) name, I was able to find more info, but it was still a mess.