Credits

DIRECTED BY: Ivy Meeropol

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Sheila Nevins

SUPERVISING PRODUCER: Nancy Abraham

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Stephen Dembitzer, Michael Skolnik

 

heir to an execution (2004)

Available on DVD, HBO MAX, and Apple TV

Synopsis

When Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were put to death in 1953 for selling atomic secrets to the USSR, their two children were orphaned after every family member refused to take them in. Documentarian Ivy Meeropol, raised to believe in her grandparents' innocence, begins investigating what actually happened, interviewing family members and friends. With declassified papers indicating Julius was participating in espionage in some capacity, Ivy tries to understand the beliefs that drove the couple.