he died in his bed without remorse. The Ipatyev House became a
shrine for many Russian Orthodox Christians, and at the order of
KGBChair Yuri Andropovit was torn down in the 1970s. Follow-
ing the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Romanovs’remains were in-
terred in St. Petersburg, and they are now considered martyrs by the
Russian Church.
Explaining the murder in his memoirs, Leon Trotskywrote: “The
execution of the tsar’s family was needed not only to frighten, hor-
rify, and dishearten the enemy, but also in order to shake up our own
ranks, to show them there was no turning back, that ahead lay either
complete victory or complete ruin.” Trotsky’s comments explain the
Red Terroras well: the regime acted not only to terrorize its ene-
mies, but to somehow strengthen the resolve of a small militant party.ROSENBERG, JULIUS (1918–1953); ROSENBERG, ETHEL
(1915–1953). The most divisive espionage case of the Cold Warin-
volved a husband and wife who were either deeply engaged in Soviet
intelligence or innocent martyrs of a monstrous Red Scare. Julius
Rosenberg approached the NKVDfor the first time in 1942 through
Jacob Golos, a Soviet illegalresponsible for much of the NKVD’s
espionage on American soil. Over the next five years, Rosenberg
managed 10 agents, most of whom were engineers. All willingly pro-
vided the Soviets with information about classified weapons pro-
grams. Rosenberg also recruited David Greenglass, his wife’s
brother, a U.S. Army machinist at Los Alamos. Greenglass later pro-
vided information on the high explosive lens, a piece of the atomic
bomb puzzle. In deciphered Soviet intelligence traffic, Rosenberg
had the code names “Antenna” and “Liberal,” while Greenglass had
the code name “Caliber.”
Ethel Rosenberg played a less important role than her husband,
according to many studies of the case. She was knowledgeable
about his espionage, helped and encouraged his work, and served as
a lookout during meetings with Soviet intelligence officers. Her
name was not encrypted in Soviet intelligence cables, signifying
that the NKVD did not consider her an enrolled agent like her hus-
band. NKVD officers did, however, recognize her as a member of a
ring of communists and communist sympathizers who were spying
for the Soviet cause.ROSENBERG, JULIUS (1918–1953); ROSENBERG, ETHEL (1915–1953) • 22506-313 P-Z.qxd 7/27/06 7:57 AM Page 225