David Greenglass and Max Elitcher’s Secret Grand Jury Testimony Unsealed: What the Transcripts Really Reveal About the Rosenberg Spy Case

R. Bruce Craig whose case, Craig v. USA, set the precedent for unsealing grand jury minutes for historic purposes over a decade ago, prepared the principal historical briefs in the successful efforts to release both the Rosenberg and Alger Hiss case grand jury transcripts.


Media reports dealing with the recent unsealing of the grand jury testimony of David Greenglass and Max Elitcher -- both key figures in the Ethel and Julius Rosenberg spy case -- by Federal District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein have focused principally on evidence revealed in Greenglass’s 46-page grand jury statement regarding his relationship with his sister (and Julius’s wife), Ethel Rosenberg. That transcript reveals that Greenglass did not mention her name to the grand jury when testifying about Julius Rosenberg’s delivery of atomic secrets to the Soviets. This is an important omission as during the Rosenberg spy trials Greenglass testified that Ethel “typed” some of her husband’s hand-written notes for delivery to the Russians. (Ethel’s typing constituted the “overt act” that enabled her to be prosecuted.) Granted the absence of Greenglass’s statements to the grand jurors about his sister’s role in the espionage apparatus heightens suspicion that Ethel was wrongly prosecuted, convicted, and executed. But Greenglass’s omission comes as no surprise to those familiar with the intricacies of the case. Early on in the federal investigation into the Rosenberg spy ring, Greenglass was trying to protect members of his family, including his sister; his betrayal of her was to come only later when, according to his own admission, he was pressured into lying by federal prosecutors.

But more importantly -- and virtually ignored by all media accounts -- is that the Greenglass and Elitcher transcripts collectively reveal a great deal more about the Rosenberg spy ring than this one admission relating to Ethel. Of central importance in the Greenglass transcript is that it was David’s wife, Ruth – not Ethel -- who played the far more important role in assisting in Soviet espionage. (See Greenglass transcript, especially at _268-_278). This, in turn, had profound ramifications for David Greenglass when he opted to testify against his sister and brother-in-law in exchange for a reduced sentence and a promise by prosecutors that his wife would not be charged at all.

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160066