NEW YORK — Ruth Greenglass, whose testimony in the sensational Rosenberg spy trial helped send her sister-in-law Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair, has died. She was 84.
Greenglass had been living under an alias to avoid association with the Cold War case that led to the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953. Her death was revealed in court documents filed in late June.
She died in New York on April 7, according to Social Security records.
Greenglass and her husband, David, were pivotal figures in the spy case. They confessed to being part of an effort to smuggle secrets to the Soviets, and turned in the Rosenbergs, their relatives, as the spies who recruited them to the task.
Historians continue to debate the truthfulness of their testimony concerning Ethel Rosenberg, whose guilt has long been questioned.
During the 1951 trial, the couple said they saw Ethel Rosenberg transcribing stolen atomic secrets on a portable typewriter in her New York apartment. Their account was the best piece of evidence linking Ethel Rosenberg, David’s sister, to an alleged plot to steal research data from the Manhattan Project.
By cooperating, David Greenglass, a wartime machinist in Los Alamos, N.M., who had been charged along with the Rosenbergs, was spared a possible death sentence. He served 10 years in prison.
Ruth Greenglass was never charged.
Since then, decoded Soviet cables have seemed to confirm that Julius Rosenberg was a spy, but doubts have remained about Ethel’s involvement.
David Greenglass has said in recent years that he made up the account about the typewriter to protect his wife, who, he claimed, might have also improvised the tale to appease prosecutors.
Historians are seeking access to sealed grand-jury transcripts from the Rosenberg case. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan said in a June 23 court filing that it would not oppose the release of transcripts from witnesses who have died or agreed to make their statements public.
Ruth Greenglass was listed in the document as being among the dead.
