HEIR TO AN EXECUTION: A GRANDDAUGHTER'S STORY (TV)
Summary
This documentary feature examines the story of accused spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, as told through the eyes of their descendants and friends. The program begins as filmmaker Ivy Meeropol, daughter of the Rosenbergs' older son Michael, is rebuffed as she attempts to locate her famous grandparents' gravesites. She examines the exhibit at the New York Historical Society as Michael examines childhood photos, some of which became famous in the press, and Michael's younger brother Robert states that his parents were neither wholly innocent nor entirely guilty, but made "difficult choices." Co-defendant Morton Sobell, who served 17 years in prison for espionage, explains that the Rosenbergs were "very political," though Ethel was more concerned with her role as a mother, and seems unsure as to their true guilt or innocence. Friend Abe Osheroff describes meeting Julius through activism at City College, where they went on to join the Young Communist League, and friend Miriam Moskowitz, who was convicted in 1950 of conspiracy to obstruct justice and spent time in prison with Ethel, recalls their strong sense of justice and their compassion for those negatively impacted by a capitalist society. "Spies Confidential" magazine published many of their names and photos, and Moskowitz states that her case was a "dress rehearsal" of sorts for the Rosenbergs' prosecution.
Ivy visits the fateful courtroom with her younger cousin Rachel, Robert's daughter, who explains that her grandparents' story inspired her to pursue a career as a lawyer. Michael discusses his longtime desire for vengeance against David Greenglass, Ethel's brother, who informed on the couple and received a lesser sentence of ten years, apparently out of a desire to protect his own wife, Ruth. Osheroff, Moskowitz and the others offer their less-than-favorable views of David, though in a 2001 "60 Minutes" interview, David retracts his damning claim that Ethel typed up the notes containing the secret atomic data. Ivy is disturbed as she drives by David's non-descript house, though she does not meet him in person. Later, she visits the National Archive and examines the strange physical "evidence" used against her grandparents, including a box of Jell-O mix alleged to contain secret codes, and she grows emotional as she reads an affectionate letter from Ethel to Michael. She speaks to Michael's childhood therapist, Elizabeth Phillips, who also visited Ethel in prison, and Michael recalls visiting his parents at Sing-Sing and even boldly asking to see the electric chair itself. Moskowitz explains that the two boys were taken from their maternal grandmother Tessie Greenglass and sent to the Hebrew Children's Shelter in New York, having "chosen" David's side of things and urged her daughter to inform on her husband to save her own life.
Ivy wonders why none of her grandparents' assorted siblings stepped forward to take charge of the young boys, and she is frustrated to find that most extended Greenglass and Rosenberg family members still do not wish to discuss the case, even fifty years on. She finally tracks down the son of Julius's brother David, who changed the family surname to "Roberts," and he confesses his shame at the fact that his parents did not adopt Michael and Robert or even attend the funeral. Ivy, Michael and Robert then visit the Knickerbocker Village apartment on the Lower East Side, where the boys lived with their parents and where the famous "housewife" photograph of Ethel was taken in the kitchen. Ivy next visits the Spy Museum in Washington D.C., and Sobell points out that Ethel was only named once in the famed Venona project, the counterintelligence program that monitored many alleged spies and was declassified in 1995, and that he himself was mentioned it in far less often than others who were not convicted at all. Ivy sits down with Walter and Miriam Schneir, authors of the 1983 book "Invitation to an Inquest," and admits that she is no longer sure if her grandparents were "completely" innocent, as she had been raised to believe, as the evidence is mounting that Julius did indeed pass secrets to the Russians. Ivy's brother Greg wonders why Julius did not then take the blame himself and save his wife, but Michael suggests that Ethel was essentially the "hostage" whose life was threatened in an attempt to force Julius to confess. Osheroff confirms that Julius definitely sent information to the Soviets, but denies that it was anything as serious as atomic bomb secrets.
103-year-old Harry Steingart, another friend of the couple, tells Ivy that the couple was given one final chance to name names – including his own – a week before their deaths, but opted to face execution rather than betray their friends, an act for which he admires them greatly. David and Emily Alman describe being followed by the Feds as they traveled across the country with a group working for their freedom, and Michael explains the "outrageous" conduct of the Supreme Court Justices, noting that Justice William Douglas' stay of execution was vacated at the last minute without additional evidence. Osheroff suggests that the couple could not have faced one another if they had chosen to confess or name names, and Michael recalls his traumatic final visit to the prison. Marty Koslowe, widow of Rabbi Irving Koslowe, recalls her husband's disturbing experience tending to the couple in their final minutes and witnessing their gruesome executions, recalling that Ethel required multiple shocks from the chair to end her life. Michael explains that attorney Marty Bloch was the boys' legal guardian after the executions, who opted to send them to activist couple Abel and Anne Meeropol, with whom Robert and Michael formed a quick bond. They were briefly sent back to a home and then to Julius' mother when the media reported that they had been "kidnapped by Communists," but they eventually returned to the Meeropols and went on to take their surname. Ivy finally finds Julius and Ethel's graves, and Michael explains that he and his brother remain proud of their parents, glad for the chance to "reclaim" the story for their family.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: November 30, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:39:12
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:85673
- GENRE: Documentary
- SUBJECT HEADING: Documentary; Capital punishment; Families; Espionage, Communist
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2004
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Nancy Abraham … Executive Producer
- Marc Levin … Producer
- Sheila Nevins … Producer
- Daphne Pinkerson … Producer
- Ivy Meeropol … Producer, Director
- Stephen Dembitzer … Associate Producer
- Michael Skolnik … Associate Producer
- Human … Music by
- Michael Meeropol … Interviewee
- Robert Meeropol … Interviewee
- Morton Sobell … Interviewee
- Miriam Moskowitz … Interviewee
- Rachel Meeropol … Interviewee
- Abe Osheroff … Interviewee
- Elizabeth Phillips … Interviewee
- Walter Schneir … Interviewee
- Miriam Schneir … Interviewee
- Greg Meeropol … Interviewee
- Harry Steingart … Interviewee
- Emily Alman … Interviewee
- David Alman … Interviewee
- Marly Koslowe … Interviewee
- William O. Douglas
- David Greenglass
- Ruth Greenglass
- Tessie Greenglass
- Irving Koslowe
- Abel Meeropol
- Anne Meeropol
- Ethel Rosenberg
- Julius Rosenberg