Robert Meeropol (born May 14, 1947 as Robert Rosenberg) is the younger son of
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Julius Rosenberg (May 12, 1918 – June 19, 1953) and Ethel Rosenberg (; September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953) were American citizens who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union. The couple were convicted of providing top-secret i ...
. Meeropol was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. His father Julius was an electrical engineer and a member of the
Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
. His mother Ethel (née Greenglass), a
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
organizer, was also active in the Communist Party.
In 1953, when Robert was six years old, his parents were convicted and
executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
for conspiracy to commit
espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
, and specifically for passing secrets of the
atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
Early life and education
After the Rosenbergs were arrested, Robert and his older brother
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
lived with their maternal grandmother, Tessie Greenglass. After three months, she was unable to continue such care and placed them in the Hebrew Children's Home. After several months, their paternal grandmother Sophie Rosenberg removed them from the children's home to care for the boys herself. During their stay with her, the boys were allowed to visit their parents in
Sing Sing prison
Sing Sing Correctional Facility, formerly Ossining Correctional Facility, is a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision in the village of Ossining, New York. It is about north o ...
. After one year with Sophie, the boys were sent to
Toms River, New Jersey
Toms River is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County.[Abel Meeropol
Abel Meeropol (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986)Baker, Nancy Kovaleff, "Abel Meeropol (a.k.a. Lewis Allan): Political Commentator and Social Conscience," '' American Music'' 20/1 (2002), pp. 25–79, ; see especially note 3. was an Ameri ...]
and his wife Anne and took their last name.
Meeropol earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
at
Earlham College
Earlham College is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. The college was established in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and has a strong focus on Quaker values such as integrity, a commitment to peace and social ...
and the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
.
Activism and career
![Robert Meeropol holding copy of Exhibit 8 from the Rosenberg trial 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Robert_Meeropol_holding_copy_of_Exhibit_8_from_the_Rosenberg_trial_03.jpg)
In the 1960s and 1970s, Meeropol became active in the
anti-war effort. After completing his master's degree, Meeropol taught anthropology at
Western New England College
Western New England University is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. Academic programs are provided through its College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering, School of Law, and College of Pharmacy and ...
in
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
from 1971 to 1973.
With his brother, Meeropol sued the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
and
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
under the
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act
* ...
(FOIA), winning the release of 300,000 previously secret documents pertaining to their parents' case. Believing the documents proved their parents' innocence, the Meeropol brothers co-wrote a 1975 book about their childhood. From 1974 to 1978, he worked actively with the National Committee to reopen the Rosenberg Case and the Fund for Open Information and Accountability.
From 1980 to 1982 he was managing editor of ''
Socialist Review
The ''Socialist Review'' is a monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online.
Original publication: 1950–1962
The ''Socialist Review'' was set up in 1950 as the main publication o ...
'' in the San Francisco Bay Area. During this time, his parents' executioner,
Joseph Francel, died. In 1982 Meeropol moved back to Massachusetts. He returned to school, studying at the Western New England College School of Law, from which he received his
J.D. degree in 1985. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar and began practice as an attorney.
In 1990, Meeropol started the
Rosenberg Fund for Children
The Rosenberg Fund for Children (RFC) is a public foundation started in 1990 by Robert Meeropol and named in honor of his parents Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, the only two United States civilians executed for conspiracy to commit espionage during th ...
, a public foundation which provides support for children in the U.S. whose parents are targeted, progressive activists. The RFC also supports youth in the U.S. who have been targeted for their own progressive activism. He stepped down from the position of Executive Director of RFC on September 1, 2013, to be succeeded by his daughter Jennifer.
In 2003 he wrote a memoir that reflected on his life and his parents' fate.
Marriage and family
Robert is married to Ellen Meeropol. They have two daughters: Jennifer and Rachel. Rachel has become a lawyer for the
Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional Rights[The Center for Constitutional Rights](_blank)
(CCR) is a New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Current position on parents' executions
In 2008,
Michael Meeropol
Michael Meeropol (born Michael Rosenberg on March 10, 1943) is an American retired professor of economics. He is the older son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted communist spies. Born in New York City, as Michael Rosenberg, Meeropol spent ...
and Robert Meeropol said that, given recent revelations by their parents' co-defendant
Morton Sobell
Morton Sobell (April 11, 1917 – December 26, 2018) was an American engineer and Soviet spy during and after World War II; he was charged as part of a conspiracy which included Julius Rosenberg and his wife. Sobell worked on military and govern ...
and
Venona project
The Venona project was a United States counterintelligence program initiated during World War II by the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (later absorbed by the National Security Agency), which ran from February 1, 1943, until Octob ...
documents released in 1995, they now believed that their father was involved in espionage for the Soviet Union. However, they also said
"To this day, there is no credible evidence that he participated in obtaining or passing on ... the secret of the atomic bomb, the crime for which he was executed."
They also believed documents showed that witnesses had fabricated evidence against their mother, and that she was innocent of the government charges.
References
External link
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meeropol, Robert
1947 births
American adoptees
American socialists
Jewish American writers
Activists from New York City
People from Toms River, New Jersey
Living people
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni
Western New England University faculty