The dancer that became a legend
Mata Hari is the symbol of femme fatale, the most famous and legendary of spies and ... the most sensual.
She awakened passions and fantasies like no other female, always wrapped around a cloud of rumors and mystery, including smoke and mirrors, Mata Hari’s legend remains fascinating and captivating.
Geertruida Margaretha Zelle, better known as Mata Hari, was born in Leeuwarden, Holland on August the 7, 1876, daughter of Adam Zelle Hatter, nicknamed the Baron, for his delusions of grandeur and extravagant habits.
Mata Hari means “Pupil of Dawn”, starting her seductive reputation at fifteen years old in the Normal School of Lyden, where much of the time spent there she lived under constant harassment from the director of the institution, which used all methods to gain her favor, without success.
In 1895 an application appeared in a local newspaper, the Dutch officer Rudolf “John” MacLeod searched for a wife, she responded to the add due to the fact that she felt a very strong attraction for the military, hence one of her most famous quotes, “I love the military, I have always loved them and I’d rather be the mistress of a poor officer than of a wealthy banker “!
She married the same year to be pregnant with her first daughter Louise and after a while moved to the East Indies where she had her first contact with the native dances of the continent.
Back in Amsterdam, in 1903 she obtained a divorce alleging abuse from MacLeod’s behalf, since John was devoted to a worldly life and alcoholism.
She traveled to Paris where she continued her training as a dancer and in 1905 was presented officially as Mata Hari, exotic dancer who made the sacred Indian dance of “Devandasisher” and “Kandaswam”.
She became known as the daughter of Bramhin, a Buddhist priest and adopted his Hindu name, promoting her own legend while narrating her life differently, thus creating a network of rumors and fantasies.
She traveled around Europe saying she was born in a sacred Hindu temple where she had been revealed since her childhood the sacred dances of her people.
Mata-Hari created for herself an easy life as a dancer and traveled to the main European capitals, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Monte Carlo and Vienna, among others.
She had numerous lovers and protectors, rich and powerful such as Major Arnold Van Kalle, German Military Chief, Adolphe Pierre Messimy, French Minister of War, Alred Kiepert, German landowner, the composer Giacomo Puccini, Baron Henri de Rothschild and many more.
During the early years of the twentieth century, Mata Hari danced in numerous army events and political affairs.
She had the misfortune to be acting in Berlin when World War II broke, at the moment; she was the mistress of the chief of police of the city; only to leave him for the German Consul Kraemer, who was also a Chief of the German espionage.
Consul Kraemer persuades her to extract information from the French militia in exchange for huge profits. Mata Hari accepts and becomes agent H21, but she was ambitious and in short time became a double agent.
By then the French intelligence alongside captain Ladoux already suspected of her due to the interception of a message sent by her, setting a trap in order for Mata Hari to return to France.
The French arrested her on February 13, 1917 using a fake ID and was confined in the prison of Saint Lazare on the outskirts of Paris.
The French court accused her of high treason and was condemned to death without evidence; she denied the charges claiming that she slept with military by choice and not by duty.
During the trial another of her famous quotes emerged: “A harlot? Yes! But a traitor never! “
She was executed by a firing squad on the morning of October 15, 1917 with 41 years of age at the Chateau de Vincennes.
It is known that she didn’t wished to be blindfolded and legend suggests she threw a farewell kiss to her executors, resulting in the fact that of the twelve soldiers who formed the firing squad only four hit the target, one of the bullets managed to enter her heart, causing instant death.
Her body was never claimed by any family member and was used by anatomy medical students, as was customary for those executed considered criminals.
Her embalmed head remained in the Criminal Museum of France until 1958 when it was stolen and has never been heard of again.
Text: Leonor Villafaña ± Photo: ESACADEMIC / wkm / INTERECONOMIA / wkm / VINCENTIAN COLLECTIONS / wkm