Mata Hari, famous erotic dancer of the Belle Epoque, was she really a spy? Wasn’t she wrongly condemned in 1917? Answers and return on the sulphurous life of this artist and “great horizontal”.
On Monday April 18, 2022, a new episode of the show Secrets of history is devoted to Mata Hari, this dancer considered too free, suspect ideal because of her tumultuous life. The show deals with his romantic life, lingering doubts about his guilt, and his role as a double agent during World War I. Indeed, before being shot in 1917 for intelligence with the enemy, Mata Hari enchanted all of Paris and the great European theaters with her erotic dances. Fueling the lust of the most powerful men, she knows fame, fortune, and is maintained for ten years. As she approached her forties, in debt, she retired to The Hague in 1915. Her knowledge of languages and the wealth of her address book again attracted attention at the start of the First World War. The German consul in Amsterdam offers him to sell strategic intelligence that she will collect in France and Spain, which would allow her to reconnect with her past lifestyle. Proposal that she would have accepted, becoming agent H21.
Back in France, Mata Hari falls in love with a Russian captain in the service of France, Vadim Maslov. While she wishes to visit him on the front, Captain Ladoux, head of the French counterintelligence services, offers her to become a spy on behalf of France, allowing her to obtain a laissez-passer and a promise to substantial remuneration, which she will never touch. Mata Hari heads for Spain where she apparently collects information for French intelligence. Both sides suspect her to be a double agent and try to frame her. Mata Hari would have been denounced by Major Kalle, duped by Captain Ladoux. Arrested in France, she was sentenced to death without any evidence being presented. She was executed on October 15, 1917. Did she become the ideal culprit, demonized by the newspapers, at a time when the morale of the troops was at its lowest? To know more about the scandalous life of Mata Hari, his full biography is below.
Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, who became Mata Hari, was born on August 7, 1876 into a Dutch family. His father, a prosperous merchant, soon faced bankruptcy. She tries somehow to find her way and meets Captain MacLeod. She marries him and thus finds a way out of her unstable situation. She follows her husband to Indonesia and gives birth to two children. During this period, she learns the Oriental dance then abandons his family to join France. In 1905, Mata Hari performed in a show of erotic dance for the first time in Paris. From then on, his fame continued to swell throughout Europe. During World War I, a spy mission entrusted to him by the French army. Mata Hari accepts but continues to sell his charms both in France and in Germany, which arouses mistrust. She is finally accused of espionage on behalf of the Germans and shot on October 15, 1917 in Vincennes.
Mata Hari’s troubled youth and unhappy marriage
Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, known as the stage name Mata Hari, grew up in a wealthy merchant family, until his father went bankrupt, his parents separated and his mother died a few months later. It is then distinguished by its assertive charactera gift for language learning andwill have that she releases. Very young, she understands that by learning to master her power of seduction, she can get what she wants. She experiences early sexuality and has a relationship with the principal of the school she works in when she was 16. This liaison caused a scandal and she was sent to The Hague, to her uncle. Through matrimonial advertisements, she seizes the opportunity to marry an officer. She marries Captain Rudolf MacLeod and imagines her life will become more exciting by his side.
Attracted by the comfort of an idealized life in Asia, the couple moved to Indonesia. Mata Hari says: I wanted to live like a butterfly in the sun. The disillusion on the spot is total. Beyond their significant age gap, her husband turns out to be indebted, violent and outrageously unfaithful. What’s more, he gives her syphilis. Disease that she transmits to her two children: Louise-Jeanne and Normand-John. Her beauty is noticed on the spot, which makes her husband excessively jealous. Abandoned, she studies the indonesian traditional dance and thus becomes a master in the art of seduction. Her union with MacLeod is definitively broken by the tragic death of their son, at the age of two. The family returns to the Netherlands and then the couple divorce. After her daughter is taken from her by her ex-husband, Margaretha begins a metamorphosis. She goes to the capital of love, where she integrates Parisian society with a bang.
Her prestigious career as an erotic dancer
Mata Hari becomes a casserole, pejorative term designating during the Belle Epoque a woman living from remunerated sexual services. She performed for the first time on March 13, 1905 at the Guimet Museum, the National Museum of Asian Arts. More than 600 members of the Capital’s elite are invited. Her performance reflects the image of a sensual young woman, paying homage to the Hindu god Shiva, she gradually strips naked. The public is won over and she becomes the most desired woman in Paris in a society dominated by patriarchy. She adopts the pseudonym of Mata Hari, meaning the sun Where eye of the day in Malay. She is coveted and showered with gifts by her lovers. Mata Hari embodies a femme fatale character with oriental sensuality.
Her reputation goes well beyond national borders. For ten years, she performed in the most prestigious theaters all over Europe. Some consider that his stripping acts contributed to deconstructing the taboo of nudity at the beginning of the 20th century. She becomes a kind of myth and invents noble origins and an even more tragic past than it is in reality. After the start of the Great WarMata Hari moved to The Hague in 1915. She was then contacted by the German consul Carl H who offered her to become a spy and sell information.
Death of Mata Hari, a spy with murky motives
Presumably spy on behalf of Germany, Mata Hari returns to France where she is watched by the French counterintelligence services. Her ease in crossing borders as a Dutch woman (the Netherlands not taking part in the conflict), her multilingualism and the richness of her connections make her the ideal suspect. The intelligence services do not obtain any evidence against him. In 1916, she fell in love with a decorated Russian officer, Vadim Maslov, 15 years his junior, who is fighting alongside the French army. As she goes to the front to see him, Captain Ladoux offers her to become spy for France. Something she accepts in exchange for a million francs. She leaves France for Spain where she apparently gathers information for the French intelligence services. She would have been denounced as a double agent by Major Kalle and seems to have been duped by Ladoux. In February 1917, Mata Hari was taken into custody. The French investigating judge is intractable against this man eater. She is imprisoned in appalling conditions and falls ill. In July, accused of espionage, she was brought to justice by a military tribunal. Without any tangible proof being presented, she is condemned to death for intelligence with the enemy in time of war. Mata Hari was shot on October 15, 1917 at the shooting range in Vincennes.
A tragic and fascinating heroine: films, books and photos
Her exceptional career and the tragic end of her life made her a mythical figure of the early 20th century. Many films and books are dedicated to him and his character appears in other stories.
Movies
- Mata Hari (1931)
- Mata Hari, agent M 21 (1964)
- Mata Hari (1985)
Books
- cycle of the godsBernard Webber (2004)
- the spyPaul Coelho (2016)
Mata Hari: key dates
- October 15, 1917: Death by shooting of the famous spy Mata Hari
- The dancer of Dutch origin Margaretha Geertruida Zelle is shot at the camp of the Château de Vincennes. She is accused of espionage in the service of the enemy, Germany. She had made her debut in Paris during the Belle Epoque where she practiced Indonesian dance. She took the nickname, Mata Hari (the eye of the dawn) from the name of a Javanese princess. Charm dancer, Mata Hari, had according to the judges agreed to collaborate with Germany in exchange for 20,000 marks. She denied it, saying it was the price of her favors. Unmasked by the secret agent H-21 was arrested after her interview with the German military attache, Major Kalle.