Ethel Rosenberg—An American Tragedy by Anne Sebba
“Ethel Rosenberg—An American Tragedy” by Anne Sebba is a non-fiction account of a woman who was a loving wife, a good mother and daughter, and a Communist who believed in the goodness of mankind. She was intelligent and loyal to her husband, who passed secrets to the Soviet Union during WWII.
Author Sebba wants to extrapolate Ethel as an individual, a victim of her times and family. She describes how Barney and Tessie, Ethel’s parents, lived in New York after leaving Europe’s Minsk, where Russian Cossacks had robbed and tortured them. They came to America for a better life and lived in a tenement above Barney’s shop, where he fixed sewing machines. Tessie loved her sons unconditionally but neglected her daughters, especially Ethel, who longed for music lessons but was denied them. She felt her mother never loved her.
Tessie became superintendent of their tenement block and was more assertive than Barney, cold and bitter. But Ethel was one of the best students in junior high and grade school and in advancement classes. She was very active in forming a union of workers in her job with the shipping clerks. When a strike was called to urge the company owner to negotiate higher wages, she was there. She continued to sing in performances with symphonies at Carnegie Hall. Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and Mussolini’s in Italy led Ethel into the small but growing Communist world on the East side of New York. She sang at events for volunteers fighting General Franco in Spain. At one event, fighting a bout of nerves, she met Julius Rosenberg when he had her perform just for him and calmed her. Afterward, he walked her home, and they became inseparable. He later said he loved her since that night, and nothing would ever part them.
Julius studied engineering at City College and earned a Bachelors’s degree in Science, but it wasn’t easy to find a job. They married in 1939, and he found work as a junior engineer with the U.S. Army Signal Corps. They moved in with his parents in New York, where Ethel was a dutiful wife, and had dinner on the table when Julius got home from work. They continued to promote Communism and
sold The Daily Worker newspaper. They owned no furniture but were very happy. Julius was generous and would allow anyone to stay overnight who needed a place to sleep. Author Sebba gives excellent detail to Julius and Ethel’s everyday lives, work, and friends and family interactions.
When WWII started and the USSR came to the U.S. side, everyone was pleased and felt Fascism would be destroyed. When Julius was promoted to a better position and a higher salary, they moved to Knickerbocker Village, a housing development with an elevator, electricity, and heat. Ethel’s mother couldn’t keep up with her intelligent daughter, but Ethel was close to her mother-in-law.
Since 1944 the Soviet Union had received details about the atomic bomb development at Los Alamos, New Mexico. As an ally of the U.S., Julius felt that the USSR should benefit from the information he could obtain from David, his brotherin-law, who worked there as a mechanic. Julius got close to people he knew in the party until he was recruited during a Labor Day rally, introduced to Seymon Semyonovi, a Soviet intelligence officer working at a front for Soviet operations. He was transferred from Seminonov to Fiklisov, with whom he developed a rapport. At Christmas time 1944, Julius gave him a sizeable heavy carton he left on a window sill in a café. Foksilov gave Ethel a fashionable crocodile bag and a teddy bear for their son Michael. Julius urged Ruth to ask David to give her information from Los Alamos, and she did. In 1945 Julius was fired from his job because he was a member of the Communists party. Moscow ordered him to lay low for a while, but he got a job with Emerson Radio and Phonograph Corp, which was engaged in projects for the Army and Navy.
Ethel concentrated on being a good mother and read all the psychological authors on parenting. At this time, Dr. Spock came into the limelight, and she followed his ideas. Being a good mother mattered to her. In 1947 they had another son, Robby. In 1945 Ethel met Vivian Glassman, and by 1948 they were good friends.
Photos in the book show the major things in Ethel’s life: the tenement on Manhatten’s Lower East side where Ethel Greenglass was born in 1915, Barney’s repair shop in the front space with the family rooms behind; her picture in the high school yearbook and a drama scene photo. There are also photos of her with her brother David and many with Julius. On the day he was arrested, a photo shows that she is simply a poor 1950s American housewife who cared about her children. After both their arrests, Ethel and Julius were not allowed to talk to one another, but Julius was permitted to sit in a cage outside Ethel’s cell at Sing Sing. Her sons went to live with their grandmother, Julius’ mother.
Ethel wants to talk about their upbringing with Julius. When the boys visited them in prison, Ethel provided insects such as beetles and spiders for them to study. The boys tried to help Ethel stay calm and ordinary. Michael played word games with Julius and didn’t like a fuss.
It isn’t easy to imagine this scenario of a loving mother waiting for the electric chair and her two young sons waiting too.
A complete bibliography lists dozens of books on this subject of American politics during that era. This is a book about betrayal, David and Ruth’s betrayal, Minnie’s betrayal of her daughter, and Julius’ betrayal of his country. Find this fascinating book on the nonfiction shelf of your local library.