Ethel+and+Julius+Rosenberg+and+others-p8

=Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and others= by Laura

//This is Ethel and Julius Rosenberg!//

Introduction
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were loved by many, but they had a secret that no one knew except their friend and brother. Their secret was that they had been spying for the Soviet Union on our latest nuclear news and inventions. They started spying at the beginning of WWII, but no one would have known their secret for they had children and were loving and kind. Both Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were the first people executed for wartime spying.Why did they spy for the Soviet Union? You will have to find out in the rest of this article.

The Rosenberg Family
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg was born in the Lower East side of New York City on September 28, 1915. Her parents were Tessie and Barnet and she was the only girl in the family. She had three brothers Bernard, Sam, and David. She was born into a Jewish family. She didn't have the wealthiest family because she lived in a run down house with no heat, but she was very smart. She attended religious schools. She went to Downtown Talmud Torah and then Seward Park High school where she graduated at the young age of 15. She wanted to become either an actress or a singer, but she took a job at a shipping company right after she finished school. Singing was truly her passion though. Singing is how she met her future husband Julius Rosenberg. She became part of the Young Communist League as a teenager after she finished school and she was singing for a benefit concert for the. She was waiting to go on stage to sing at a New Year's Eve benefit concert when she met him.

Julius Rosenberg was born in New York City's Harlem district of New York City on May 12, 1918 into a Jewish family, but soon after that he moved to the Lower East Side of New York City. His parents were Polish immigrants Harry and Sophie Rosenberg. Julius lived with his brother and two sisters. He as well attended religious schools. Julius attended the Hebrew High school and the City College of New York. His dreams were to become a mechanical engineer and to be the first of his family to graduate from college. He did both those things and that is how he got his job. He graduated college in February of 1939 and got married June 18, 1939. After Julius and Ethel got married he joined the Army Signal Corps where he worked on and repaired radar equiptment. He as well was a part of the Young Communist League as a teenager. Once the Army Signal Corps found out that Julius was in the Communist Party he was fired. After that he was an American spy for the Soviet Union and long after executed for espionage.

As children Ethel and Julius lived only blocks away and never knew it. Julius had fallen in love with Ethel the moment they met. Julius wanted Ethel to practice for the benefit concert in front of him just to calm her nerves and once he saw her sing he knew she was the one for him. After they first met Julius and Ethel went everywhere together. Once they started to talk to each other they realized they had a lot in common and began attending union meetings and other East Side functions with each other. They wanted to get married as soon as they could, but their parents said that Julius should graduate from college first. In February of 1939, he received a degree in electrical engineering, and on June 18 they were married. After they were married the Rosenberg's moved into their own East Side apartment, not far from where they both grew up. Julius got a job with the Army Signal Corps as a junior engineer for $2,000 a year, and Ethel started working for the East Side Defense Council, which was raising money and gathering supplies for the Allies' war effort to defeat Hitler. Their apartment was ice cold in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer, and it had little light or air year round. Even though they weren't under the best conditions the Rosenberg's were still very happy there. They weren't really materialistic and were too involved in outside activities, like the Communist Party and into each other to worry about how much money they had compared to the rest of the neighborhood or how many clothes they had to the neighbors.

Throughout the next few years (1943-1948) Ethel and Julius had to change their focus from their labor movement and other activities

[[image:Julius_Rosenberg_mugshot.png width="232" height="446" align="right"]]
because in 1943 the Rosenberg's had their first son, Michael. Because of the arrival of their new son Ethel quit her job working for the Defense League and focused on motherhood. Then, in 1947, the Rosenberg's second son Robert (Robby) was born. Michael and Robert had lived a nice, but tough life. At the ages of just three and seven the children were without parents. They were orphaned after their parents were executed because none of their relatives wanted to take they in because they were scared of ostracism, or the act of banishing or excluding. After traveling through foster homes, both Michael and Robert were adopted by Abel Meeropol, otherwise known as Lewis Allan and his wife. After the boys were adopted, they took the last name of Abel Meeropol. They grew up to be fine young men and both grew up to have families. They wrote a book about the experience of what they went through when they were a kid and what they went through as adults. Also, Michael's daughter Ivy made a documentary about her grandparents and what they did and what they went through.

What made Julius and Ethel Rosenberg so famous in U.S. History?
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are most famous for what they did during WWII and the Cold War. During World War II, the USSR and the United States became allies in the war, but the government was very suspicious of Stalin's intentions. During the war, the Americans did not share information or seek assistance from the Soviet Union for the Manhattan Project. However, the Russians knew of the project as a result of espionage, or spying of the US government and had made a number of attempts to infiltrate its operations at the University of California, Berkeley. A number of project members like David Greenglass and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg voluntarily gave secret information to Soviet agents, many because they were sympathetic to communism and did not feel that the US should have a monopoly on weapons such as the Atomic Bomb and other atomic weapons.

After the war, the US continued to not share nuclear secrets, but the Soviet Union was able to produce its own atomic weapons by 1949. Its first test of nuclear weapon "Joe 1" shocked many people in how fast it was made. It was then discovered in January 1950 that a German, Klaus Fuchs working for the British mission in the Manhattan Project, had given very important documents to the Russians throughout the war. This act is called espionage. Espionage is the act of spying. When Fuchs confessed, United States and British agents were able to make a case against his messenger, Harry Gold, who was arrested on May 23, 1950. Sgt. David Greenglass, who worked at the top-secret Los Alamos laboratory, and was also Ethel Rosenberg brother, confessed to passing top secret information on to the USSR through Gold as well. He also told that his sister Ethel and brother-in-law Julius had passed secrets as well. Another man accused of espionage, Morton Sobell fled to Mexico City, but was later sent back to the United States for trial. He was sentenced 30 years and prison and was released in 1969.

Extra Focus
The Rosenberg's weren't the only people accused of espionage. Ethel's own brother was a spy for the Soviet Union. But the main person who started spying for the Russians was Klaus Fuchs, a German working for the Manhattan Project. He had passed on very important documents to the Soviet Union throughout WWII and the Cold War. That is how the "Joe 1" was made so fast. There was also Ethel's brother David Greenglass. He was a seargent who worked at Los Alamos Laboratory located in New Mexico. Lastly there was Morton Sobell who was also accused of espionage. He was an American engineer who worked for General Electric and Reeves Electronics on military and government contracts. That is how he met David Greenglass and spied for the Soviet Union.

David Greenglass worked at the workshop called Los Alamos Laboratories where he made nuclear weapons. It would have been easy for him to report to a Soviet spy on all the latest news. That Soviet spy could have been one of Greenglass's worker friends. Also, it would have been pretty easy for David to communicate with Julius and Ethel because they were family. Even though Julius and Ethel were out of state there were still phones and letters. Harry Gold was the same messenger for all of the spies for the Soviet Union so they all would have to have been in contact so it was easy for them to all talk to each other and for the Soviet Union to get all the latest news about the newest nuclear weapons we were making in the United States.

[[image:Ethel_Rosenberg_mugshot.png width="437" height="272" align="left"]]
The official trial of the Rosenberg's didn't officially start until March 6, 1951 but they had to have gotten arrested to be on trial. The first to be arrested was David Greenglass. He was arrested in June of 1950 by the FBI for espionage. Then David told that Julius and Ethel had spied as well. Julius Rosenberg got arrested July 15, 1950 on the charge of conspiracy to commit espionage. Later, in the beginning of August, Ethel Rosenberg got arrested on the same charge. She got arrested August 11, 1950. Then the official trial started March 6, 1951. There were many court dates in between that so the jury could try and figure out the verdict. Twenty two days later the Rosenberg trial ends and is sent to the jury for them to choose the verdict. The final verdict was made the next day and they found Julius and Ethel Rosenberg guilty. They Rosenberg's weren't sentenced to death until April 5,1951.

Final Sentence
The trial of the Rosenberg's ended March 28, 1951. The jury had made up their minds by the next day and Julius and Ethel were found guilty. Ethel and Julius's final sentence was execution. They were to be executed June 19, 1953. They were executed on that date at Sing Sing Prison in New York. Julius Rosenberg died instantly after the shock of electricity, but for Ethel it was way more painful. She didn't die instantly and she was shocked with two more shocks of electricity. People have said that after the last shocks of electricity they could actually see smoke coming from her head.

After the Rosenberg's Death
After the Rosenberg's had died their sons were adopted and still live on today to tell the story of their parents. Their son's Michael and Robert have written a book about the experience and Michael's daughter Ivy made a documentary film about her famous grandparents. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg will be known by many forever. They were the first ever to be executed for wartime spying.

Citations:
1. Reeves, Thomas C. "Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel." //World Book Online Reference Center//. 2007. [Highland Middle School. 8 Feb. 2007.] <[|http://www.worldbookonline.com.ezproxy.cooklib.org:2048/wb/Article?id=ar475720>.] 2. "Julius and Ethel Rosenberg." Wikipedia. Feb. 7, 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg 3. Moss, Francis. __The Rosenberg Espionage Case__. San Diego:Lucent Books, 2000. 4. Monroe, Judy. __The Rosenberg Cold War Spy Trial: A Headline Court Case__. Berkley Heights:Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2001. 5. "Rosenberg, Julius (1918-1953)." //UXL Biographies//. Online ed. Detroit: UXL, 2003. //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Thomson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 13 Feb. 2007  6. "David Greenglass." Wikipedia. Feb. 13, 2007 

Picture Citations:
1. http://www.iwannagetthat.com/news/rosenbergjuliusandethel.jpg 2. http://www.mugshots.com/IMAGES/P__julios.jpg 3. [|http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Ethel_Rosenberg_mugshot.png/300px-Ethel_Rosenberg_mugshot.png]