Ruth Greenglass; Had Role in Rosenberg Trial

Ruth Greenglass, 84, whose testimony in the Rosenberg spy trial helped send her sister-in-law Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair, has died.

She died in New York on April 7, according to Social Security records, and her death was revealed in court documents filed in late June.

Mrs. 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.

Mrs. 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 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, may have also improvised the tale to appease prosecutors.

Sam Roberts, a New York Times reporter, interviewed David Greenglass for his book "The Brother: The Untold Story of Atomic Spy David Greenglass and How He Sent His Sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to the Electric Chair" (2001).

"You know, I seldom use the word 'sister' anymore; I've just wiped it out of my mind," Mr. Greenglass told Roberts, adding: "My wife put her in it. So what am I going to do, call my wife a liar? My wife is my wife."

Born Ruth Leah Printz in 1924, Mrs. Greenglass grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she married as a teenager and became involved in Socialist causes.

David Greenglass said Julius Rosenberg recruited him to work as a spy after he was assigned to Los Alamos, where the atomic bomb was being developed. The two were partners in a machine shop after the war ended.

After her husband's arrest in 1950, Ruth Greenglass was implicated as a co-conspirator, but never charged. After his release from prison, the couple lived in the New York area with their children under assumed names. Her husband is still alive.

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.