A judge yesterday ordered the release of key secret grand jury testimony in the atomic spy trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, citing its value to historians in the debate over national security versus freedom.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein pertained to witnesses whose sealed testimony was taken in 1950 and 1952. The witnesses are still alive but have not consented to the release or could not be located.

The Rosenbergs were convicted of passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union and were executed in 1953. Since then, decoded Soviet cables have appeared to confirm that Julius Rosenberg was a spy, but doubts have remained about Ethel Rosenberg’s involvement.

The judge gave the government two months to appeal.

In his ruling, Mr. Hellerstein cited the importance of history in resolving tension between American security and the “vigorous expression of the freedoms that make our society great.

“Each generation has defined its own answer,” he said. “And each generation needs to explore the history of the past to understand fully the context in which these polar extremes come into clashes with one another. … So history of how we dealt with these problems in the 1940s and 1950s is a current history, and a history that is very important for us to understand.”

Federal prosecutors had already agreed to release the records of 35 of the 45 witnesses. Hellerstein’s ruling means testimony from all but three witnesses can be public.