Mata Hari

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Mata Hari
Mata Hari, exotic dancer and convicted spy, made her name synonymous with femme fatale during World War I.
Born	Margaretha Geertruida (Grietje) Zelle August 7, 1876(1876-08-07) Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Died	October 15, 1917 (aged 41) Vincennes, France
Cause of death	Execution by firing squad
Nationality	Dutch

Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida (Grietje) Zelle (7 August 1876, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands – 15 October 1917, Vincennes, France), a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was executed by firing squad for espionage during World War I.^[1]

[edit] Early life

Margaretha Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, Friesland in the Netherlands, as the only daughter and second child among the four children of Adam Zelle and Antje van der Meulen, both born and raised in Friesland.^[2] Adam owned a hat store and he had done successful investments in the oil industry and became affluent enough to give Margaretha a lavish early childhood. ^[3] Thus, Margaretha attended only exclusive upper class schools until age 13.^[4]. However, Margaretha's father went bankrupt in 1889, her parents divorced soon afterwards, and Margaretha's mother died in 1891. ^[3][4] The family had come apart and she moved to live with her godfather Heer Visser at Sneek. At Leiden, she studied to be a kindergarten teacher but when the headmaster began to flirt with her conspicuously, she was sent from the institution by her offended godfather. ^[5][3][4] After only a few months she fled to her uncle's home in the Hague^[6].

[edit] Indonesia

At 18, she answered an advertisement in a Dutch newspaper placed by a man looking for a wife. Margaretha married Dutch naval officer Rudolf John MacLeod in Amsterdam. They moved to Java (Dutch East Indies) and had two children. The marriage was an overall disappointment.^{[citation needed]} MacLeod was a violent alcoholic and openly kept both a native wife and a concubine. The disenchanted Margaretha abandoned him temporarily, moving in with Van Rheedes, who was another Dutch officer. For months she studied the Indonesian traditions intensively, joining a local dance company. In 1897, she revealed her artistic surname Mata Hari via correspondence to her relatives in Holland.^[4]

At MacLeod's urging, Margaretha returned with him although his aggressive demeanor hadn't changed. She escaped her circumstance by studying the local culture.^[4] Their child Norman died in 1899 possibly of complications relating to the treatment of syphilis contracted from his parents, though the family claimed he was poisoned by an irate servant. Some sources^[4] maintain that one of Rudolf's enemies may have poisoned a supper to kill both of their children (Norman and their little daughter). After moving back to the Netherlands, the couple divorced in 1903, with Rudolf forcibly retaining the custody of his daughter (who later died at the young age of 21, also possibly from complications relating to syphilis).^[7]

[edit] Paris

That year, Margaretha moved to Paris, where she performed as a circus horse rider, and went by the name Lady MacLeod. Struggling to earn a living, she also worked as an artist's model.

In 1905, she began to win fame as an exotic dancer. It was then that she adopted the stage name Mata Hari, the Indonesian and Malay word for 'sun' (literally "Eye of the Day"). 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 20th century looked to Asia and Egypt for artistic inspiration. Critics would later write about this and other such movements within the context of orientalism.

Promiscuous, flirtatious, and openly flaunting her body with a mystique that captivated both her audiences and the public, Mata Hari was an overnight success from the debut of her act at the Musée Guimet on March 13, 1905.^[8] She was so successful that she became the long-time mistress of the millionaire Lyon industrialist Emile Etienne Guimet who founded the Museum. She posed as a princess from Java, of priestly Indian 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. Gabriel Astruc was the name of her personal booking agent.^[4]

She brought this 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 over her arms and head.^[4] Although the explanations and claims made by her about her origins were total fiction, the act was spectacularly 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 her free-willed attitude made her a very popular woman, as did her willingness to wear or perform in exotic and revealing clothing. She posed for provocative photos and mingled in wealthy circles. As most Europeans at the time were unfamiliar with the Dutch East Indies and thus thought of Mata Hari as exotic, it was taken for granted that her claims were genuinely true.

However, by about 1910, while a myriad of imitators had popped up, the critics began to opine that both the success and the dazzling features of the popular Mata Hari had been merely due to her cheap exhibitionism, lacking any artistic attributes. Still, she was scheduled for important social events throughout Europe; however she was disdained by some serious cultural institutions as someone who didn't know even to dance decently. ^[4]

Mata Hari was also a successful courtesan, though she was known for her sensuality and eroticism rather than for striking classical beauty. She had relationships with many high-ranking military officers, politicians, and others in influential positions in many countries, including the German crown prince. Her wealthy lovers paid for her luxurious lifestyle.

Prior to World War I, she had been generally viewed as an artist, a free-spirited bohemian, but as the times grew more grim, she began to be seen by some as a wanton and promiscuous woman, and perhaps a dangerous seductress. Her relationships and liaisons with powerful men took her across international borders frequently.

[edit] Double agent

During World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral. As a Dutch subject, Margaretha Zelle was thus able to cross national borders freely. To avoid the battlefields, she traveled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain, and her movements inevitably attracted attention. She was a courtesan to many high-ranking allied military officers during this time. On one occasion, when interviewed by British intelligence officers, she admitted to work as an agent for French military intelligence, although the latter would not confirm her story. 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 January 1917, the German military attaché in Madrid transmitted radio messages to Berlin describing the helpful activities of a German spy, code-named H-21. French intelligence agents intercepted the messages and, from the information they contained, identified H-21 as Mata Hari. Remarkably, the messages were in a code that German intelligence knew had already been broken by the French, leaving some historians to suspect that the messages were contrived.

[edit] Case

Mata Hari after her arrest.

On 13 February 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her hotel room at Hotel Plaza Athénée Paris. She was put on trial, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers. She was found guilty and was executed by firing squad on 15 October 1917, at the age of 41.

Theories suggest that France used her execution to distract attention from events at the front.^{[citation needed]}

Pat Shipman's biography Femme Fatale goes so far as to argue that Mata Hari never really was a double agent, speculating that she was used as a scapegoat by the head of French counter-espionage, Georges Ladoux. Ladoux had been responsible for recruiting Mata Hari as a French spy and later was arrested for being a double agent himself.

The facts of the case remain vague, because the official case documents regarding the execution were sealed for 100 years.

[edit] Disappearance and rumours

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Death Comes to Mata Hari

Mata Hari's body was not claimed by any family members and was accordingly used for medical study. Her head was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris, but in 2000, archivists discovered that the head had disappeared, possibly as early as 1954, when the museum had been relocated. Records dated from 1918 show that the museum also received the rest of the body but none of the remains could later be accounted for.

The execution of Mata Hari in 1917

The fact that a former exotic dancer had been executed as a spy immediately provoked many rumours. One is that she blew a kiss to her executioners, although it is more likely that she blew a kiss to her lawyer, who was a witness to the execution and a former lover of hers. Her dying words were purported to be "Merci, monsieur". Another rumour claims that, in an attempt to distract her executioners, she flung open her coat and exposed her naked body. "Harlot, yes, but traitor, never," she is reported to have said. A 1934 New Yorker article, however, reported that at her execution she actually wore "a neat Amazonian tailored suit, specially made for the occasion, and a pair of new white gloves"^[9] though another account indicates she wore the same suit, low-cut blouse and tricorn hat ensemble which had been picked out by her accusers for her to wear at trial, and which was still the only full, clean outfit which she had along in prison.^[10] Yet another rumour had it that Mata Hari was unusually composed at the execution, refusing to be tied or blindfolded — and that this is because the firing squad was to be bribed to use blanks for a fake execution, but the plan failed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Legend and popular culture

The fact that almost immediately after her death questions rose about the justification of her execution, plus rumours about the way she acted during her execution set the story. The idea of an exotic dancer working as a lethal double agent, using her powers of seduction to extract military secrets from her many lovers fired popular imagination, set the legend and made Mata Hari an enduring archetype of the femme fatale.

Much of the enduring popularity is owed to the film entitled Mata Hari (1931) and starring Greta Garbo in the leading role. While based on real events in the life of Margaretha Zelle, the plot was largely fictional, appealing to the public appetite for fantasy at the expense of historical fact. Immensely successful as a form of entertainment, the exciting and romantic character in this film inspired subsequent generations of storytellers. Eventually, Mata Hari featured in more films, television series, and in video games -- but increasingly, it is only the use of Margaretha Zelle's famous stage name that bears any resemblance to the real character. Many books have been written about Mata Hari, some of them serious historical and biographical accounts, but many of them highly speculative.

[edit] Movies and television

• The first known film featuring Mata Hari was made by Germany called 'Die Spionin (1921) with Asta Nielsen. "Mata Hari, Die Rote Tänzerin" (1927) with Magda Sonja was also made by German film makers.
• Greta Garbo starred as Mata Hari in Mata Hari (1931), one of her most famous roles.
• Lyda Roberti starred in Edward F. Cline's movie Million Dollar Legs (1932) as "Mata Machree, The Woman No Man Can Resist", a Mata Hari-based spy character that was continuously attempting to sabotage the President of Klopstockia, played by W. C. Fields. Apart from actual footage of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, one of the many highlights of the film is Mata Machree's intermittent performance of various complicated dance routines (especially that which accompanies her steamy rendition of "When I Get Hot in Klopstockia") that were intended to seduce Fields.
• In 1985, Sylvia Kristel (of Emmanuelle fame) portrayed her once again in a remake of "Mata Hari" (MGM). This time however, the coyness of the Greta Garbo version gave way to the full on nudity of her sexual exploits. A very enjoyable film!
• In the 2007 Indonesian film, Sang Penari (The Dancer) based on Dukut Imam Widodo's novel; she is portrayed by Tamara Bleszynski.
• In Chapter 9 Demons of Deception of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, originally aired as Episode 22, Season 2, she is portrayed by Domiziana Giordano.
• In a chapter of The Flintstones, Wilma appears as a spy under the name of 'Rocka Hara'.
• In an episode of Charmed, Season 6, Phoebe is possessed by the malevolent spirit of Mata Hari.

[edit] Books and plays

• Lene Lovich co-wrote and performed Mata Hari, a play/musical at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, UK, Oct-Nov 1982.
• In the Indiana Jones series of novels, Young Indiana Jones: The Mata Hari Affair - by James Luceno, Indy loses his virginity to Mata Hari when he was a teenager and a Corporal in the Belgium Army.
• Author Kurt Vonnegut's character Howard W. Campbell, Jr. dedicates his "memoirs" to Mata Hari in the novel, Mother Night.
• The pianist Mischa Jones series of novels
• In the anime R.O.D: Read or Die [3], 'Miss Deep' is revealed to be a clone of Mata Hari.
• In the tenth book in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, Sunny Baudelaire says "'Matahari'...which means something like, 'If I stay here, I can spy on them and find out'".
• The Red Dancer (A Life of Mata Hari) by Richard Skinner 2001
• Diane Samuels' play, The True Life Fiction of Mata Hari (2001), deals with Mata Hari's interrogation and execution by the French military. It was first performed at the Palace theatre in Watford in March 2002.
• In Stephen Schwartz's musical, Working, the character of Delores says she feels like Mata Hari.
• Pat Shipman wrote a biography of Mata Hari, Femme Fatale (2007)
• Major Thomas Coulson OBE (Officer of the British Empire) wrote a Book titled Mata Hari: Courtesan and Spy (1930) which is mostly based on inaccurate information.
• Author Sam Waagenaar published the book The Murder of Mata Hari (1964, British edition. American edition, 1965 under the title Mata Hari) which is one if not the first accurate account of the life Mata Hari based on actual documentation, research, interviews with people who had known her as well as personal scrapbooks that Mata Hari had kept given to him by her personal maid Anna Lintjens.
• Mata Hari appears as a student-Goddess in the novel The Breath of Gods by French writer Bernard Werber.
• In Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones, Jack Salmon, the protagonist’s father, finds out his mother-in-law (Grandma Lynn) has an interest in Hal, a much younger man than her who is a friend of the family. She is making muffins at ten in the morning with pantyhose and makeup on while Hal works out in the yard in an undershirt. Noticing this, Jack asks her: ‘‘When will the love muffins be done, Mata Hari?’’
• Signed, Mata Hari is a novel written by Yannick Murphy, published in 2007 (Little, Brown and Company), and purporting to tell the story of Mata Hari.

[edit] Music

• Nigel Clarke composed Three Symphonic Scenes for Concert Band entitled Mata Hari. Scene 1 is entitled 'Dancer in the Shadows', Scene 2 'Deceit and Seduction' and Scene 3 'Evasion and Capture'. The multi-award winning Northamptonshire Youth Concert Band, conducted by Peter Smalley, performed the British Premier of this piece in 2003.
• One of Ofra Haza's songs is entitled Mata Hari and based on her. One of the song's lyrics is: "Like a butterfly, she crossed all the lines...Like a butterfly she dreamt, danced and died".
• Mata Hari is mentioned in "Like It or Not", a song from Madonna's Confessions On A Dance Floor album. ("Cleopatra had her way, Mata Hari too. Whether they were good or bad, is strictly up to you. [...] You can't have the femme without the fatale. Please don't take offense.").
• She is mentioned in the song "Shake Your Bon-Bon", a song by Latin singer Ricky Martin with the line "You're a Mata Hari...I want to know your story".
• Another mention in music comes in the Mary Prankster song "Mata Hari", discussing the reaction of society to openly sexual women.
• The song "As You Turn To Go" by The 6ths contains the lines "I know I'm not supposed to say I'm sorry, I know you've had more loves than Mata Hari."
• Michael McDermott's song " So Close " includes the lyric's " you got the heart of Mata Hari, dancing crosstown for some prince, you never said you were sorry and now it makes no difference"
• The Canadian ska band, The Kingpins, paid tribute to the spy in a song titled "Mata Hari" on their first full length album Watch Your Back.
• Mata Hari is mentioned in the song "Genius" by the late Warren Zevon, on his 2000 album My Ride's Here, "Mata Hari had a house in France, where she worked on all her secret plans; Men were falling for her sight unseen, she was a genius".
• The song "BYOS" by Regina Spektor mentions Mata Hari ("I met Mata Hari, She was in no hurry, The firing squad had their guns in the air.").
• The song "From One Jesus to Another" by The Mission mentions Mata Hari with the line "And anyway, if it came to a choice, I'd take Mata Hari for my bride."
• The musical Little Mary Sunshine has a number entitled "Mata Hari".
• There was a musical entitled "Mata Hari" that was planned on going to Broadway before it flopped and disappeared after its out-of-town tryout. The musical was revived in 1995 by the York Theatre Company and was recorded. Nonetheless, no further Broadway productions of the show have there been and there are no plans to bring it to Broadway.
• Loved by a very small group of admirers, Norway represented in 1976 by Anna-Karina Ström, the song "Mata Hari" came 17th during the Eurovision Song Contest in The Hague. It contains the lyrics "You walked away laughing and left them alone with their shame".
• One of The Atomic Fireballs songs is entitled Mata Hari.
• The song "Check The Ring, Yo" by MC Chris contains the lyrics "Matahari just got sorry, gotta roll like Katamari!"
• Tom Waits mentions in the Bone Machine press kit, Rip Rense (1992), that in his song, co-written with Waits' wife Kathleen Brennan, entitled "Dirt in the Ground" he cut out a verse about Mata Hari because the song was running long. Waits: "One of (the verses) was: 'Mata Hari was a traitor, they sentenced her to death/The priest was at her side and asked her if she would confess/She said, 'Step aside, Father, it's the firing squad again/And you're blocking my view of these fine lookin' men.'/And we're all gonna be dirt in the ground...' That's what people say that were present, that just before the firing squad opened up she opened up her blouse a little bit, and then she winked, and then they took her down." (Quote borrowed from and cited at www.tomwaitslibrary.com)

[edit] Games

• There was a video game Mata Hari by Loriciels, for Amstrad CPC (1988) and Atari ST (1989).
• Mata Hari appears as a spy in the first two games of the Shadow Hearts video game series, under her true name, though Anglicised to Margarete Gertrude Zelle. In the first game, she also joins the party early on.
• In the videogame Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater the character EVA is called a "regular mata hari" by the main character, Snake.
• dtp entertainment will publish Mata Hari worldwide under the ANACONDA label, with a Q1 2008 release date set for Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
• Mata Hari appears as a Great Spy unit in the Civilization IV expansion Beyond the Sword.
• An enigmatic exotic dancer goes by the stage name of Mata Hari in the PC adventure game, Culpa Innata (2007).
• There was a 1977 Bally Pinball Machine based on Mata Hari.

[edit] Bibliography

• Shipman, Pat Femme Fatale: A Biography of Mata Hari Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007, ISBN 0-297850-74-1 ISBN-13 978-0297850748 (USA edition: Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari William Morrow, 2007, ISBN 0-060817-28-3 ISBN-13 9780060817282)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Mata Hari

• Biography at Court TV's Crime Library
• Details of the disappearance of the corpse
• "The Execution of Mata Hari, 1917," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005)
• Pictures and Photos of Mata Hari