Mata Hari, a name synonymous with espionage, intrigue, and allure, is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic figures of the early 20th century. Was she really a spy or a victim of circumstance?
Even today the debate rages as to whether she was a spy for Germany, or simply a scapegoat for the French after the deadly 1916 Battle of the Somme where more than one million people were wounded or killed. She was executed because of allegations she gave details of new British tanks to the Germans who built high-velocity guns capable of destroying them.
But now that the files of MI5, French Intelligence and even the CIA have been made public 100 years after her execution, it looks like the only spying that Mata Hari did was for the French.
Margaretha’s move to Dutch East Indies
Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle on August 7, 1876, in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, her journey from a troubled youth to becoming an iconic spy during World War I is nothing short of remarkable.
Margaretha’s early life was marred by personal tragedy and instability. After her parents’ divorce and her mother’s death, she was sent to live with relatives in the Netherlands.
At 18, she answered an advertisement for a wife placed by a Dutch colonial army officer, Rudolf MacLeod, 22 years her senior.
She moved to the colonial outpost of Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia. After they married in 1895, the couple lived at Malang on the island of Java where young Margaretha encountered the dancers of the far east, and life as a ruling class colonial expatriate.
The marriage was tumultuous, marked by infidelity and domestic violence. They had two children, but their son died under mysterious circumstances. Newspaper reports say that Margaretha shot and killed an Indonesian gardener who she accused of poisoning her son.
Other accounts say her young son did not survive the mercury used to treat the syphilis contracted from his unfaithful parents. Following the scandal, Margaretha returned to Europe and the couple divorced.
Margaretha Zelle becomes Mata Hari
In 1905, Margaretha reinvented herself as “the celebrated Hindu dancer, Mata Hari” – a name meaning “Eye of the Day” in Malay, “Eye of the Morning”, and simply “Sun” in Indonesian.
She moved to Paris and quickly became famous as an exotic dancer. Her performances, inspired by the sensuous temple dances she observed in Asia that were described as provocative and sensual, captivated audiences and earned her a place in high society.
Her breakthrough came with a performance at the Paris Musee Guimet on March 13, 1905, which propelled her to sensation status across Europe. She became the long-time mistress of the founder of Musee Guimet and collector of Asian art, Émile Étienne Guimet.
The craze for eastern exotica was sweeping through Paris in the art nouveau period of the early 1900s, and Mata Hari expertly capitalized on this trend.
With her exotic Eastern costumes, long black hair and dark, liquid eyes, she knew how to enthrall men. Her sensual performances captivated audiences, and her charm and beauty attracted wealthy and influential lovers.
Her letters from famous lovers and admirers, now housed at the Fries Museum, included from Baron Henri de Rothschild, composers Giacomo Puccini and Jules Massenet, and industrialist Gaston Menier.
Mata Hari was a favourite model of photographer Stanislaw Julian Ignacy Walery (1863-1935) who later photographed Josephine Baker, and other theatre and cabaret artists of the time.
In 1914, P&O named a steamer the “Mata Hari”.
“Not Beautiful, but Magnetic”
“Her name is Marguerite Zelle Mata Hari. She is not less than 38 years old or more than 42. No one knows her age. She is not beautiful, but she is most magnetic, wonderfully handsome.
Her teeth are pearls. Her black hair reaches to the ground. She is about 6 ft. tall, and, sculptors have said, is probably, the most perfectly formed woman of her height in the world.
Her eyes are big, luminous, and as black as night. Her skin is of that soft light olive color. She carries herself as a queen of olden times, and her toilette is most notable for its elegance and taste,” wrote a prominent New York musician who Mata Hari had asked to compose her dance music.
World War I and Espionage
As Europe plunged into World War I, Mata Hari’s European travels, her extravagant lifestyle and her connections with high-ranking military officers from both the Allied and Central Powers drew the attention of intelligence agencies.
Mata Hari travelled on her neutral Dutch passport. Mata Hari had just danced at the Scala in Milan and was performing at the Metropole in Berlin when war broke out, according to her interrogation with MI5 in November 1916.
In December 1915, while returning to France from Holland via Britain, Mata Hari was detained and questioned by British police, who found nothing incriminating. MO5, the precursor to the British Secret Service MI5, issued a notice to port authorities to prevent her return to Britain and later advised her arrest if she did return.
MO5 kept her under surveillance and alerted the French. Captain Georges Ladoux of the French Intelligence Bureau, seeking to test her loyalties, asked her to spy for France. She agreed, demanding a million francs so she could marry her Russian lover, Captain Vladimir de Masloff.
Mata Hari targeted the German Military Attaché in Madrid, Major Arnold Kalle, but her clumsy attempts at espionage alerted him, and no useful information was passed on. Her effectiveness as a spy and even a double agent remains a subject of debate.
In spring 1916, while trying to return to Holland via Spain, she was detained again in Britain due to mistaken identity and was eventually released as the British authorities deemed her an ineffective spy. After she returned to France in June 1916, the Police Intelligence Bureau began following her.
Early in 1916, Mata Hari gave her first performance in Paris since the outbreak of war, at Folies Bergère.
However, morals had changed and she was visited by the police, who told her to wear more clothing and “she must modify her gestures, and soft-pedal on the writhings and squirmings that “interpreted” the various bits of Indian folklore she presented”.
Her downfall came in February 1917 when French authorities arrested her in her room at the Hotel Elysée Palace on the Champs Elysées on charges of espionage for Germany.
Accused of passing critical information to the enemy, Mata Hari’s trial was highly publicized all around the world as people were hungry for news of the war.
Trial of Mata Hari
Mata Hari’s trial was a sensational affair. The prosecution painted her as a femme fatale whose seductive powers were used to extract secrets from her lovers.
Mata Hari admitted to accepting money from a German intelligence officer but claimed she had provided only outdated information and gossip. She considered the money as payment for her belongings which had been confiscated.
The evidence against her was largely circumstantial, but in a time of heightened paranoia and nationalistic fervor, her fate was sealed. Despite the lack of concrete evidence, she was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death.
The French court found the “Accused did wilfully and maliciously, and against the interest of La Patrie, communicate information of military value to the enemy concerning our offensive of the summer of 1916.”
Many newspaper reports of the trial mentioned “She is now in the cell in Saint Lasare Prison which Madame Steinhiel occupied”. In 1899, French President Félix Faure famously died of heart seizure while in the company of another well-known demimondaine, Madame Steinhiel, allegedly while having sex. Madame Steinhiel was acquitted of the murder of her mother and husband in 1909.
Mata Hari’s sensational trial made the news around the world. Newspapers variously described her as a “Japanese danaeuse” and a “mystical serpentine Hindu ritual dancer who attracted fashionable Parisians to the leading theatres”.
When sentenced to death, Mata Hari muttered, “It is impossible, impossible!”
The Execution of Mata Hari
On October 15, 1917, Mata Hari was executed by firing squad at Vincennes. Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, better known as Mata Hari, was 41 years old.
British reporter Henry Wales, an eyewitness, recounted that Mata Hari was neither bound nor blindfolded. Her last words were “Must I wear that?” when offered a blindfold.
Mata Hari, condemned to death by the country that had recruited her as spy, stood looking her executioners in the eyes. With defiance, she blew a kiss to the firing squad.
Her composed demeanor and refusal to wear a blindfold in her final moments added to her legend.
“Not until I know that she is buried; that she has failed to corrupt her gaolers, and even the men detailed for duty in the firing squad, will I believe that she has played her last card,” wrote her admirer, the composer.
Mata Hari: Cunning spy or a victim of circumstance?
Mata Hari’s life is shrouded in mystery and myth. Was she a master spy or a scapegoat caught in the crossfire of wartime hysteria?
Mata Hari’s embalmed head was given to the Museum of Anatomy in Paris, but it disappeared in the 1950s and remains missing to this day. Her body was used for medical study.
She was exculpated – cleared of guilt – by Germany in 1930.
MI5 released their dossier on Mata Hari which included transcripts of her interrogation.
In 2017, one hundred years after Mata Hari’s execution, the French Army declassified her sealed trial documents and other related files, totaling 1,275 pages.
Historians continue to debate her true role in the war. What is undeniable is her impact on popular culture.
Mata Hari has been immortalized in books, films, and plays, often depicted as the quintessential femme fatale.
Mata Hari’s transformation from Margaretha Zelle to an iconic spy is a tale of resilience, reinvention, and intrigue. Her glamorous and tragic life continues to fascinate and inspire, even a century after her death.
Whether Mata Hari was a cunning spy or a victim of circumstance, her story remains a captivating chapter in the annals of history.
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