Manifestation pour les Rosenberg


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  • Other title(s): Demonstration for the Rosenberg
  • Genre: Documentary film
  • Year: 1953
  • Runtime: 00:07:00
  • Description: This film reports on the mobilization in Paris in favor of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg on the eve of their execution, which took place on June 19, 1953 in the United States. It is mainly the protest that is shown. On the placards, one can read "There are only 36 hours left", "Save the Rosenbergs". The many protesters advance to the outskirts of the Mabillon market in Paris. In one street, a man with a megaphone calls out to the inhabitants of a building at their windows. A few shots then show the signatories of a petition, including a police officer. This is followed by images of the rally that took place on June 17, 1953 at the Place de la Nation in Paris. The crowd is very large; two portraits of the Rosenbergs and the words "Sauvons les Rosenbergs" (Let's save the Rosenbergs) appear above a platform, where Marcel Cachin and Jacques Duclos are sitting. The film ends with a second rally, organized the next day, June 18, 1953, at the Vel' d'Hiv'. The podium was decorated with portraits of the Rosenbergs; one speech followed another. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death in the United States and executed on June 19, 1953. An electrical engineer, Julius Rosenberg was arrested with his wife Ethel in the summer of 1950. They were accused of spying for the USSR and in particular of having divulged "nuclear secrets". While the Rosenbergs claimed their innocence, they were found guilty and sentenced to death in June 1951. From then on, a great movement of solidarity developed in the United States and in Europe to ask for the pardon of the Rosenbergs. In France, a committee for the defense of the Rosenbergs was created in 1952 on the initiative of the PCF. The Rosenberg affair was inseparable from the context of the Cold War. The accusation of espionage was all the more serious because it concerned the disclosure of information on nuclear research, at a time when the USSR had just acquired the atomic bomb (in 1949). Moreover, at the time of McCarthyism, the anti-communist "witch hunt" was at its height in the United States. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who had been active in the American Communist Party in the early 1940s, were thus the victims of a political judgment. The question of the real guilt of the Rosenbergs has long been debated. Today it seems to be proven that the Rosenbergs did participate in an espionage network on behalf of the USSR. Nevertheless, the information they communicated was not decisive for the acquisition of the atomic bomb. Their death sentence continues to appear completely disproportionate to the facts, especially because it was pronounced at the end of an unfair trial that turned out to be a judicial machination. This film shows the extent of the mobilization in favor of the Rosenbergs in France and in particular in Paris. On the eve of their execution, the PCF attempted a final mobilization on June 17 and 18, 1953. According to L'Humanité of June 18, 1953, during the rally organized on June 17 at the Place de la Nation, Doctor Guinsbourg and Charles Palant (MRAP) spoke. On the podium were Jacques Duclos, Marcel Cachin, François Billoux, Raymond Guyot, Léon Mauvais, Auguste Lecœur, Jeannette Vermeersch, Claudine Chomat, Eugène Hénaff, as well as many artists and intellectuals, such as Louis Aragon, Édouard Pignon, André Fougeron, Fernand Léger and Jean Lurçat. After this gathering, a delegation composed of Abbé Boulier, Doctor Guinsbourg, General Petit and Raymond Guyot attempted to go to the United States Embassy. The next day, June 18, 1953, "the Vel d'Hiv was quivering with anger," proclaimed the ardent protest of Paris, according to L'Humanité of June 19, 1953. Henri Bouret (MRP deputy), Charles Palant, Henri Clouzot, Raymond Guyot, Chief Rabbi Schilli, Pastor Jassart, Maurice Druon, Louis Martin-Chauffier and Henri Raynaud (CGT) successively spoke. As on the previous day, PCF leaders were present, as well as many intellectuals and artists.
  • Keywords: affaire Rosenberg / Manifestation / manifestant / meeting / rassemblement / défilé / Pétition / signature / signataire / policier / ouvrier / city center / day / police officer / politician / male / crowd / square / street / car / bicycle / bus / omnibus / meeting / applause / speech / demonstration / rally / protest / banner / communism / internationalism / VICTOR-E project / Jacques Duclos / Marcel Cachin / Ethel Rosenberg / Julius Rosenberg / marché Mabillon / Ambassade des Etats-Unis / Vel' d'Hiv, France
  • Provider: Ciné-Archives
  • Rights: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted / Ciné-Archives
  • Colour: Black & White
  • Director: Anonymous
  • Sound: Without sound