Podcast Episode Details

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg began their lives as two of the most unlikely individuals to ever acquire their eventual high profile notoriety.  Julius’ immigrant father, Harry, worked in the Garment District, providing his family with a better than average income that allowed the Rosenbergs to live a lifestyle marginally better than many of their Lower East Side counterparts.  His mother, also an immigrant from Eastern Europe was an illiterate homemaker who took care of Julius and his four siblings.  Quite serious, even as a teenager, Julius was a good enough student to consider rabbinical studies.  A high school graduate at 16, he eventually settled on engineering, enrolling at the City College of New York.  Politically aware, he also became active in several associations associated with the Communist Party, especially the Young Communist League.

Ethel Greenglass came from a similar Lower East Side background as her eventual husband, her father working in the sewing machine repair shop on the ground floor beneath the family apartment.  Three years older than Julius, they met as a result of their political interests and involvement in the Young Communist League.  Ethel was an aspiring actress and singer from a young age and was preparing to perform on New Year’s Eve, 1936, at a union benefit that Julius also attended.  After an introduction from a friend, Ethel agreed to Julius’ request to walk her home and from then on, the couple was inseparable.