Mata Hari - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Mata Hari. 19. 06 postcard (colorized)Born. Margaretha Geertruida Zelle(1. August 1. 87. 6Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Died. 15 October 1. Vincennes, Paris, France. ![]() Cause of death. Execution by firing squad. Nationality. Dutch. Known for. Receiving a conviction for pro- German espionage from French military courts in World War IHeight. Spouse(s)Rudolf John Mac. Leod (1. 89. 5. Her father owned a hat shop, made successful investments in the oil industry, and became affluent enough to give Margaretha a lavish early childhood. The family fell apart, and Margaretha moved to live with her godfather, Mr. In Leiden, she studied to be a kindergarten teacher, but when the headmaster began to flirt with her conspicuously, she was removed from the institution by her offended godfather. Zelle married Mac. Leod in Amsterdam on 1. July 1. 89. 5. He was the son of Captain John Brienen Mac. Leod (a descendant of the Gesto branch of the Mac. Leods of Skye, hence his Scottish name) and Dina Louisa, Baroness Sweerts de Landas. The marriage enabled her to move into the Dutch upper class, and her finances were placed on a sound footing. They moved to Malang on the east side of the island of Java, traveling out on SS Prinses Amalia in May 1. Mata Hari Wiki![]() Norman- John Mac. Leod (3. 0 January 1. He also openly kept a concubine, a socially accepted practice in the Dutch East Indies at that time. The disenchanted Zelle abandoned him temporarily, moving in with Van Rheedes, another Dutch officer. For months, she studied the Indonesian traditions intensively, joining a local dance company. In 1. 89. 7, she revealed her artistic name of Mata Hari,Malay (Indonesian as a standardized register did not exist in 1. She escaped her circumstances by studying the local culture. Jeanne survived, but Norman died. After moving back to the Netherlands, the couple officially separated on 3. August 1. 90. 2. The divorce became final in 1. ![]() ![]() Mata Hari PhotosMata Hari was a woman spy active in the underworld, and was one of the odder people in her line of work. A strip dancer, her legs continued to bewitch military officers until the day she was executed as a spy. Mata Hari was the stage name of the famous female espionage spy during World War I. The brand captures the same underlying themes of glamour with a certain dangerous chic sexiness as the heroine it's named after. Mata Hari, eredeti polg. Mata-Hari - Mata Hari Label:Blanco Y Negro (2) Catalog#:MX 174 Format:Vinyl, 12' Country:Spain Released:1987 Genre:Electronic Style:Italo-Disco Credits:Produ. Mata Hari; Mata Hari en 1906. ![]() Zelle was awarded custody of Jeanne. Mac. Leod was legally required to pay support, which he never did, making life very difficult for Zelle and her daughter. During a visit of Jeanne with her father, Mac. Leod decided not to return Jeanne to her mother. Zelle was forced to accept the situation, not having the resources to fight it, in the knowledge that whatever kind of husband Mac. Leod had been to her, he had always been a good father. Jeanne later died at the age of 2. Struggling to earn a living, she also posed as an artist's model. By 1. 90. 5, Mata Hari began to win fame as an exotic dancer. She was a contemporary of dancers Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis, leaders in the early modern dance movement, which around the turn of the 2. Asia and Egypt for artistic inspiration. Critics would later write about this and other such movements within the context of Orientalism. Gabriel Astruc became her personal booking agent. She posed as a Javanese princess of priestly Hindu birth, pretending to have been immersed in the art of sacred Indian dance since childhood. She was photographed numerous times during this period, nude or nearly so. Some of these pictures were obtained by Mac. Leod and strengthened his case in keeping custody of their daughter. Mata Hari brought a carefree provocative style to the stage in her act, which garnered wide acclaim. The most celebrated segment of her act was her progressive shedding of clothing until she wore just a jeweled bra and some ornaments upon her arms and head. She wore a bodystocking for her performances that was similar in color to her own skin. Her act was successful because it elevated exotic dance to a more respectable status and so broke new ground in a style of entertainment for which Paris was later to become world- famous. Her style and free- willed attitude made her a popular woman, as did her eagerness to perform in exotic and revealing clothing. She posed for provocative photos and mingled in wealthy circles. Since most Europeans at the time were unfamiliar with the Dutch East Indies, Mata Hari was thought of as exotic, and it was assumed her claims were genuine. One evidently enthused French journalist wrote in a Paris newspaper that Mata Hari was . Critics began to opine that the success and dazzling features of the popular Mata Hari were due to cheap exhibitionism and lacked artistic merit. Although she continued to schedule important social events throughout Europe, she was held in disdain by serious cultural institutions as a dancer who did not know how to dance. On 1. 3 March 1. 91. However, by this time she had become a successful courtesan, known more for her sensuality and eroticism than for her beauty. She had relationships with high- ranking military officers, politicians, and others in influential positions in many countries. Her relationships and liaisons with powerful men frequently took her across international borders. Prior to World War I, she was generally viewed as an artist and a free- spirited bohemian, but as war approached, she began to be seen by some as a wanton and promiscuous woman, and perhaps a dangerous seductress. As a Dutch subject, Zelle was thus able to cross national borders freely. To avoid the battlefields, she travelled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain, and her movements inevitably attracted attention. During the war, Zelle was involved in what described as a very intense romantic- sexual relationship with a Russian pilot, the twenty- five year old Captain Vadim Maslov serving with the French, whom she called the love of her life. In the summer of 1. Maslov was shot down and badly wounded during a dogfight with the Germans, losing his sight in both eyes, which led Zelle to ask for permission to visit her wounded lover at the hospital he was staying near the front. Zelle was met by agents from the Deuxi. Zelle's contact with the Deuxi. There she was arrested and brought to London where she was interrogated at length by Sir Basil Thomson, Assistant Commissioner at New Scotland Yard in charge of counter- espionage. He gave an account of this in his 1. Queer People, saying that she eventually admitted to working for the Deuxi. Initially detained in Cannon Street police station, she was then released and stayed at the Savoy Hotel. A full transcript of the interview is in Britain's National Archives and was broadcast, with Mata Hari played by Eleanor Bron, on the independent station London Broadcasting in 1. It is unclear if she lied on this occasion, believing the story made her sound more intriguing, or if French authorities were using her in such a way but would not acknowledge her due to the embarrassment and international backlash it could cause. In late 1. 91. 6, Zelle travelled to Madrid, where she met with the German military attach. The messages were in a code that German intelligence knew had already been broken by the French, leaving to the conclusion that the messages were contrived to have Zelle arrested by the French. Five were suspected of submitting fake material and working for the Germans, while the sixth was suspected of being a double agent for Germany and France. Two weeks after Mata Hari had left Paris for a trip to Madrid, the double agent was executed by the Germans, while the five others continued their operations. This development served as proof to the Second Bureau that the names of the six spies had been communicated by Mata Hari to the Germans. She was put on trial on 2. July, accused of spying for Germany, and consequently causing the deaths of at least 5. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her. Supposedly secret ink was found in her room, which was incriminating evidence in that period. She contended that it was part of her makeup. Zelle admitted to Bouchardon that she had accepted 2. German diplomat in the Netherlands to spy on France, but insisted she only passed on to the Germans trivial information as her loyalty was entirely to her adopted nation, France. In July 1. 91. 7, a new government under Georges Clemenceau aka . In this context, having one German spy for whom everything that went wrong with the war so far could be blamed was most convenient for the French government, making Mata Hari the perfect scapegoat, which explains why the case against her received maximum publicity in the French press, and led to her importance in the war being greatly exaggerated. She was kind of held up as an example of what might happen if your morals were too loose. Because I really did not spy, it is terrible that I cannot defend myself. It is contended by some historians that Mata Hari may have merely accepted money from the Germans without actually carrying out any spy duties. In October 2. 00. MI5 (British counter- intelligence) were used by a Dutch group, the Mata Hari Foundation to ask the French government to exonerate Zelle as they argued that the MI5 files proved she was not guilty of the charges she was convicted of. Maybe she wasn't entirely innocent, but it seems clear she wasn't the master- spy whose information sent thousands of soldiers to their deaths, as has been claimed. She defiantly blew a kiss to the firing squad. Mata Hari, which means . Zelle has often been portrayed as a femme fatale, the dangerous, seductive woman who uses her sexuality to effortlessly manipulate men, but in reality, she was in the words of the American historians Norman Polmer and Thomas Allen . Her head was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris, but in 2. According to an eyewitness account by British reporter Henry Wales, she was not bound and refused a blindfold. Wales records her death, saying that after the volley of shots rang out, . For the fraction of a second it seemed she tottered there, on her knees, gazing directly at those who had taken her life. Then she fell backward, bending at the waist, with her legs doubled up beneath her.
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