Sometimes, these two cross my mind for no apparent reason.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
I have no connections to this story. At least, none that I am aware of. Perhaps in another life, I was a friend. Maybe I was one of them. Or maybe there is no such thing as past lives, and this story simply interests my own life. Whatever the reason, I feel almost certain they were wrongly convicted.
If you don’t remember, the Rosenbergs. They were long gone before I came along. But. Few death-penalty executions can equal the controversy created by the electrocutions of this married couple. These two alleged spies were put to death in 1953.
They had been accused of overseeing a spy network that stole American atomic secrets. It was said that they then handed those secrets over to the Soviet Union.
I’m sure there was a lot of spying going on at this time in history. But the Rosenbergs were the only spies executed during the Cold War.
But were they guilty? That has been in dispute for more than half a century.
The short story follows this line:
Most accounts say that Julius Rosenberg was an enthusiastic Communist. His job at the Army Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories made him an enticing recruit for Soviet spies, who approached him on Labor Day, 1942.
Late in 1944, Julius became a recruiter for the Russians and oversaw several spies himself, including the one who would cause Julius’ downfall: his brother-in-law David Greenglass. Greenglass worked on the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
After the ring was uncovered, Greenglass was arrested on June 15, 1950. He named his wife as a co-conspirator, along with Julius Rosenberg. Greenglass originally denied his sister Ethel was involved but later changed his story.
And then.
The Rosenbergs were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage and brought to trial on March 6, 1951. That guy Greenglass was the chief witness for the prosecution. On March 29, the Rosenbergs were found guilty, and on April 5, the couple was sentenced to death.
They both died June 19, 1953. They were the first American civilians to be executed for conspiracy to commit espionage and the first to suffer that penalty during peacetime.
In the years after the Rosenbergs’ executions, there was significant debate about their guilt. Some say that Greenglass lied to protect his own wife.
I’m not sure why I feel so strongly about this. I have not studied the case deeply. I don’t know a thing about either one of them, personally, besides what is general public knowledge. But every time I see them, a large, overwhelming feeling surrounds me. It’s like answering the phone and hearing bad news. And with this, I feel positive they were wrongly convicted and executed. Ethel, especially.
Most of what I’ve read supporting both sides of the case is hearsay, in my opinion. So I have no proof either way. Just a feeling. And a strong one at that.
So more than anything, today, I am reminded to pay attention to my feelings. My intuition. And keep the hope that it will steer me in the good direction I am meant to go. Now and forever.
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“I believe in intuitions and inspirations…I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.”
― Albert Einstein
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“When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.”
― Kahlil Gibrán, Sand and Foam
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“Intuition is the highest form of intelligence, transcending all individual abilities and skills”
― Sylvia Clare,
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Not guilty. I say.
