Secret Rosenberg Testimony Ordered Released

A federal judge has ordered the release of secret grand jury testimony in the case of convicted U.S. spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, saying the case is "history that is very important for us to understand." The ruling applies to testimony from several witnesses who are still alive, but have not consented to the release of their grand jury testimony or who could not be found.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing secrets to the Soviet Union and executed in 1953.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein gave the government two months to appeal his decision, but he said the value of the information to historians outweighed any security risk releasing the information might still pose.

"Each generation has defined its own answer," Hellerstein said. "And each generation needs to explore the history of the past to understand fully the context in which these polar extremes come into clashes with one another. ... So history of how we dealt with these problems in the 1940s and 1950s is a current history, and a history that is very important for us to understand."

Doubt Still Remain

Historians seeking the testimony hope to learn more about how the U.S. government responded to perceptions that its own citizens could be corrupted by the Soviet Union at the start of the Cold War.

Since the end of the cold war, decoded Soviet communications seem to confirm that Julius Rosenberg was indeed a spy, but doubts still remain about the involvement of Ethel Rosenberg (pictured).

See Also:
NYC Judge Orders Release of Rosenberg Testimony

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