[News] Rosenberg Case News: Robert Meeropol's Reaction

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Dear Friends,

By now many of you have heard that last week, on 
September 11th, the transcript covering testimony 
of 43 of the 46* witnesses who appeared in front 
of the Grand Jury investigating my parents in 
1950-1951, was made public. (*Only a portion of 
the testimony of Harry Gold, a key prosecution 
witness, was made available, and legal efforts to 
date have failed to win the release of testimony 
of three other witnesses, including Ethel 
Rosenberg’s brother, David Greenglass, the most crucial player in the case.)

This historic release of information coincided 
with an article that appeared on the same date in 
the New York Times, interviewing Morton Sobell, 
my parents’ co-defendant.  Ever since his arrest 
more than 50 years ago, Mort has maintained his 
innocence.  But in last week’s interview he 
admitted that he, along with Julius Rosenberg, 
passed non-atomic military intelligence to the 
Soviets during World War II in an effort to help them defeat the Nazis.

Over the last week I have read all 930 pages of 
Grand Jury testimony that have been released, and 
my brother has spoken to Mort directly to clarify 
Mort’s statement.  Many of you are wondering 
about my reaction to these revelations.

Here are my initial thoughts after integrating 
the information from this last week with the rest of the historical record.

1)  Since the 1980’s I have maintained that it is 
possible that my father engaged in non-atomic 
espionage, but that he did NOT participate in ANY 
activities that resulted in him obtaining or 
passing the “secret of the Atomic Bomb” to the 
Soviets.  Mort’s statement moves me to 
acknowledge that it is virtually certain, that 
Julius did, in fact, participate with others in 
passing along military information.  But at the 
same time, I believe the still-evolving record 
makes it even clearer that Julius did not “steal” 
or transmit the “secret of the Atomic Bomb,” the 
crime for which he was executed.

2)  Ruth Greenglass’s Grand Jury testimony 
provides several bombshells, but I will only 
highlight one here.  Ruth and her husband David, 
(my mother’s sister-in-law and brother), 
cooperated with the prosecution in exchange for a 
comparatively light sentence for David, and for 
no charges being brought against Ruth.  It was 
Ruth’s trial testimony that provided the one, key 
piece of evidence that led to my mother’s 
conviction.  Ruth stated at trial that Ethel 
typed David’s handwritten notes describing the 
Atomic Bomb, an act that would have made Ethel an 
active participant in the alleged spy 
ring.  However, despite being a cooperative 
witness trying to remain in the prosecutor’s good 
graces, Ruth’s Grand Jury testimony included 
NOTHING about Ethel ever typing any notes; 
included NOTHING about Ethel even being present 
at the meeting involving the notes; and in a 
damning contradiction to her later trial 
testimony, stated that RUTH  hand-wrote the only 
notes and they described the buildings at Los Alamos not the Atomic Bomb.

3)  All that I have learned in the last week, 
coupled with all that I have gleaned from the 
information already available, reinforces the 
biggest lesson to be taken from my parents’ case- 
that the U.S. Government abused its power in 
truly dangerous ways that are still very relevant 
today.  Those in power who were involved in my parents’ case:
    * Created and fueled anti-communist hysteria
    * Capitalized on that political climate by 
targeting my parents, then making them the focus 
of the public’s Cold War-era fear and anger
    * Manufactured testimony and evidence
    * Facilitated judicial misconduct
    * Hounded witnesses for their political 
beliefs and associations rather than about any alleged illegal activities
    * Arrested Ethel simply as leverage to try to 
get Julius to cooperate with the prosecution
    * Used the ultimate weapon— the threat of 
death—to try extort a confession from my parents 
and to force them to name and testify against others
    * Created the myth that there was a key 
“secret” of the Atomic Bomb, and then devised a 
strategy to make it appear that Julius had sought 
out and passed on that “secret”
    * Executed Julius when he refused to 
cooperate. despite knowing that the “secret” used 
to justify the death penalty, was a prosecution-created fallacy
    * Executed Ethel when she refused to 
cooperate, despite knowing that she was not 
guilty of ANY charges against her and was not an 
active participant in ANY espionage activities.
And finally, the agencies and individuals 
involved in my parents’ case, systematically and 
emphatically covered-up and denied all these abuses.

Ultimately, these new revelations have made me 
even more steadfast in my commitment to helping 
those whom the Rosenberg Fund for Children 
supports:  today’s families experiencing similar 
targeting and suffering similar personal tragedies.

I thank you all for the many messages of support 
and solidarity you have sent to me and my family, 
and I invite any of you who would like more 
information, (including details on how to view 
the Grand Jury transcripts yourselves), to visit 
the RFC website at <http://www.rfc.org/>www.rfc.org.

Robert Meeropol

Executive Director

*********************************
Rosenberg Fund for Children

<http://www.rfc.org>www.rfc.org

tel: (413) 529-0063
fax: (413) 529-0802
116 Pleasant St., Suite 348
Easthampton, MA  01027



Freedom Archives
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415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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