Married couple Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951, accused of passing classified U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. The artist Pablo Picasso created these drawings of the Rosenbergs, as well as codefendent Morton Sobell, as part of a campaign for clemency that drew renown figures from across the globe. Within the Jewish community, some believed the treatment the Rosenbergs received was rooted in antisemitism, while others, including the writer Oliver Pilat in the ADL Bulletin, argued that the trial was not antisemitic, and that the United States had an obligation to root out communists. Ultimately, the campaign was unsuccessful, and the Rosenbergs were executed in 1953.
Hear more from curator Deborah Dash Moore.