Mata Hari

 

Mata Hari was a beautiful, exotic dancer who became an espionage agent. The glamorous World War I spy was eventually shot by the French in 1917, despite the fact that there was never any evidence that she actually passed on anything of military importance.

She was born Margaretha Gertruida Zelle on August 7, 1876 in Leeuwarden, Holland. Her father, Adam Zelle, was a successful milliner who was married to Antje van der Meulen. Margaretha was the only girl in a family of four boys and, in a society noted for its fair complexions, blonde hair and blue eyes, she stood out from the crowd. She had an olive complexion, thick black hair and black eyes, and her father doted on her, often indulging his vivacious daughter.

The young Margaretha was beautiful, intelligent and, in many ways, showed a flair for dancing and dramatics from an early age. She loved to wear brightly coloured clothes and often told exaggerated tales about her exotic origins. Her friends listened to her stories of castles and princes, totally enthralled, although deep down they knew it was all a fantasy inside her head. She was a popular pupil who was quick to learn and seemed to have a natural aptitude for languages.

When Margaretha was only thirteen years old, disaster struck the Zelle family. Her father’s business went bankrupt when he made some misguided investments on the stock market. They were forced to sell off their beautiful furniture and the family moved to a much smaller house in a shabby part of town. Her father decided to go to Amsterdam to see if he could earn some money, and he left his children in the care of his wife. Unfortunately, Antje found it all too much to handle and became mentally ill and died when Margaretha was only fifteen. The teenager took the death of her mother very hard, but her spirits lifted when her father returned home to attend the funeral.

Margaretha believed that she would now live with her beloved father, but she was wrong, as he left a few days later leaving her with her godfather, Heer Visser. Visser was not keen to take on the orphan and suggested that she started training to become a kindergarten teacher. Aware that she was not really wanted in the Visser household, Margaretha accepted a place at a teaching school in Leyde, run by Heer Wybrandus Haanstra. Even at this age, Margaretha at 178 cm (5 ft 10in) tall towered above most of the other female students.

Margaretha had one major problem at the school, and that was the proprietor Haanstra. He had developed an infatuation for the stunning young Margaretha, and forced his attentions on her. For a while it appears as though she welcomed his affections, but their affair became a subject of public scandal. The blame was placed on Margaretha, who was said to have made advances to the elderly man, and she was forced to leave the school in disgrace.

Confused, and unsure where to go, Margaretha ended up at the house of her uncle, Heer Taconis, in The Hague. Although he did not welcome her with open arms, Margaretha proved to be very helpful around the house and she was allowed to stay.

 

time for marriage

 

Margaretha had two main disadvantages when she started looking for a suitor. The first was her height, because the majority of men didn’t like to have a wife taller than themselves, and the second was the size of her bosoms, which were uncommonly small in a time when the hour-glass figure was all the rage. Despite the fact that her exotic looks and style attracted many men, none seemed brave enough to approach her.

Eventually she found the solution in an advertisement placed in a local newspaper.

 

Officer on home leave from Dutch East Indies would like to meet a girl of pleasant character – object matrimony.

 

The gentleman in question was a thirty-eight-year-old man in the Dutch military by the name of Rudolph MacLeod. The advertisement had been placed in the newspaper by a friend without Rudolph’s knowledge, so when he learned that a young lady would like to meet him he was surprised, but agreed. Rudolph had prematurely aged due to the fact that he was not only a heavy drinker, but also suffered from diabetes and rheumatism, and it was these health problems that had brought him home to Holland.

When the couple first met, Rudolph was smitten by the beautiful young woman and, despite their vast age difference Margaretha was also very taken by the military gentleman. She had always had a penchant for men in uniform and possibly seeing Rudolph adorning so many medals, swayed her affections somewhat. After a brief time, Rudolph proposed marriage and Margaretha accepted eagerly. The couple hit a snag, however, because in Holland the law stated that a female could marry at sixteen with a parent’s consent but had to wait until they were thirty to marry without it. Margaretha had lied to Rudolph and told him that both her parents were dead, as she didn’t want him to meet her now impoverished father. Aware that she would now have to tell the truth, she confessed to Rudolph that she had lied and then went to get permission from Adam Zelle.

Within three months of their engagement the couple were married. Their first child, Norman John, was born a year later on January 30, 1897. Although Rudolph was a loving, attentive husband for a while, after the birth of the first child he went back to his old ways of drinking and debauchery. Despite his own infidelity, he showed extreme jealousy if any man looked at his wife, and he took to beating Margaretha. She tried to ignore her husbands behaviour and continued to act the loving mother and wife.

 

A NEW START

 

Margaretha became excited when Rudolph told her he had been transferred to Java. She imagined a new exotic lifestyle in a land that she had heard so much about. When they arrived in Abawara, a city in the middle of the island, Margaretha was not disappointed and found the place enchanting. She loved to wear the native sarong, but it wasn’t long before the old problems reared their ugly head. Rudolph became more and more bad tempered, spending much of his time in a drunken stupor. He took to raping his wife and also took a young native woman as his concubine. Margaretha discovered she was pregnant with her second child during the heavy monsoon season. Unable to get down the flooded roads, she was forced to stay at home and soon she became extremely bored. With the help of her servants she quickly mastered the Malay tongue, despite her husband strictly forbidding it.

Their daughter, Jeanne Louise, was born on May 2, 1898. Margaretha hoped that a daughter would change her husband’s moods, but she couldn’t have been proved more wrong – in fact he despised the fact that it was a girl.

A year later, Rudolph was called to Sumatra, but he told Margaretha that he was unable to take his family with him. He promised to send her money and placed her in the care of the comptroller. Once again, Margaretha found herself in a place where she wasn’t really wanted, and she hated being totally dependent on the family when her husband forgot to send any monetary support. She was delighted when he eventually called her to say that she could join him in Medan.

As a commander, Rudolph lived in a spacious, well-furnished house, and it was Margaretha’s job as his wife to hold lavish parties. She took the responsibility readily and dressed in beautiful dresses sent to her from Amsterdam, conversing easily with their visitors, very often in their native tongue. For once Rudolph realised that his stunning wife was a major asset and for a while their marriage was revived. He felt proud of her and was grateful that she had made him such a social success.

On the night of June 27, 1899, Margaretha had just settled into bed after a night of entertaining, when she heard screams coming from the nursery. She rushed upstairs and as she entered the room she was overcome by the stench of vomit. As she looked into their beds she noticed that the vomit was a strange black colour and that both children were convulsed with pain. She screamed to Rudolph to get a doctor as she hugged her children in desperation.

By the time the doctor arrived Norman was already dead, but Jeanne Louise was rushed to hospital and her life was saved. After an autopsy it was discovered that both children had been poisoned and, although it was never proved, there were whispers that it may have been one of the servants who had been abused once too often by Mr MacLeod.

Both Margaretha and Rudolph were completely devastated by the loss of their son, but instead of pulling together in their grief, they gradually drifted apart. They returned to Java, where Rudolph’s drinking became a major problem, often blaming his wife for the loss of their child.

Margaretha fell ill with typhoid, which made Rudolph even more angry, complaining that her illness was costing him a lot of money. The marriage deteriorated day by day, and shortly after her recovery Rudolph announced they were to return to Europe. They had only just settled into their new home, when Rudolph left Margaretha, taking their daughter with him.

Margaretha filed for legal separation with an Amsterdam tribunal, which was an exceptionally brave move as it was scandalous for a woman to seek a divorce. To her surprise, the tribunal granted her a divorce and also custody of their daughter. However, Margaretha had no work and was unable to support her daughter because Rudolph had flatly refused to pay her any maintenance. Reluctantly, she was forced to hand her over to Rudolph’s custody once again, and Margaretha sought refuge in Paris.

 

mata hari emerges

 

Margaretha was dazzled by the bright lights of Paris and she started dreaming about what sort of job she could do. She hoped to join a theatre or perhaps become a model, but nothing was forthcoming and she was forced to return home penniless. Margaretha had hit rock bottom – no husband, no child, no home, no money – she felt life had nothing left to offer her. In a last desperate effort she scraped enough money together to return to Paris, determined this time she was going to be a success.

Wanting to put her old life behind her, she changed her name to Mata Hari, which in Malay translated as ‘eye of dawn’. It was using her new identity that she got a job as an exotic dancer in the Musé Guimet on March 13, 1905. She wore an elaborate costume and accessories and try to enhance what nature had failed to provide by stuffing the cups of her costume with cotton wool. When she had completed her dance, completely drained of any energy, Mata Hari was met with rapturous applause. She was literally an overnight success and soon her new art form took her to many European countries. At last she was famous and she loved it.

Mata Hari’s heyday lasted from 1905 until 1912. As she approached forty, Mata Hari’s dancing started to lose its vitality and her career gradually turned to that of a courtesan. She had relationships with many high-ranking military officers, politicians and others in influential positions, captivating them with her eroticism. Her liaisons took her across international borders, but as World War I took hold, this proved to be her downfall.

 

double agent

 

One of Mata Hari’s rich associates was a man called Traugott von Jagow. He was allegedly in charge of German espionage and gave orders to his mistress to spy on France. It is believed that Mata Hari attended a so-called ‘spy school’ in Antwerp, Belgium, which was run by a woman named Elsbeth Schragmüller. At the school Mata Hari was given the code name ‘H21’, and she spent her time learning codes, ciphers, and the study of chemicals and their uses and she also memorized maps, charts and photographs.

The animosity between France and Germany was gradually starting to build and Mata Hari asked permission to leave Germany just before World War I broke out. Although she managed to get into Switzerland, she was immediately sent back to Germany because of problems with her papers. She eventually ended up in Amsterdam, but made many journeys between Paris and Amsterdam.

Paris, being the capital of a country now at war, was deeply concerned about its security and the authorities were aware there might be spies in their midst. Mata Hari became a prime suspect, due to the fact that she had recently had a German lover, and they started to put a tail on her movements.

It was around this time that Mata Hari met the love of her life, a twenty-one-year-old Russian officer by the name of Vadim. Despite the age difference a passionate romance blossomed until Vadim was ordered back to the Front. Vadim was injured and was in danger of losing the sight of one eye. When Mata Hari heard that her lover was hurt, she returned to being a courtesan in an effort to raise money to get him medical help. While trying to get permission to visit Vadim in an official war zone, Mata Hari met a man named Georges Ladoux, who was instrumental in her downfall.

Ladoux was a captain in the French army who was in charge of organising counter-espionage. Mata Hari was having difficulty getting permission to visit Vadim because the authorities suspected that she was a spy and some friends recommended that she contact Ladoux. She told him her story and said that as a Dutch citizen she should be considered neutral, but she pointed out that her sympathies were with France. Ladoux said he would be prepared to help her if she would considering spying against the Germans for France.

Mata Hari said she needed time to think about it, aware that being a spy could be exceptionally dangerous. However, she knew she needed to earn a lot of money if she wanted to help Vadim, and she decided to take a chance.

Ladoux made arrangements for Mata Hari to go to Brussels, where she met up with a businessman by the name of Wurfbein. He supplied food to the German army and was therefore a useful contact. The plan was that Wurfbein would introduce her to General Moritz Ferdinand von Bissing, whom she intended to seduce and hopefully gain some useful information via pillow talk. Because of the war it was necessary for Mata Hari to take a circuitous route to Belgium – via Spain, Britain, Holland and eventually Belgium.

However, as soon as she landed in Britain things started to go wrong. The British were very suspicious of Mata Hari as they thought she was working for the Germans. As soon as the boat landed the police were waiting for her and took her back to Scotland Yard for questioning. Apparently she had been mistaken for a spy by the name of Clara Benedix who was similar in appearance. Mata Hari told Scotland Yard that they had made a terrible mistake, and they contacted Ladoux for his advice. Ladoux told them to send her back to Spain.

Mata Hari was angry and still unable to get to see her lover. She met and had a romance with a German officer named Major Arnold Kalle, and during their time together she attempted to extract secret information from her lover. She hoped to use it to please her French spymasters so that she could at least receive some payment for her services. The information that Kalle passed on to her was that he was ‘trying to arrange for a submarine to drop off some German and Turkish officers in the French zone of Morocco.’

Believing that she had obtained a very important secret, Mata Hari wrote a coded letter to Ladoux. However, it had all been a plot because the French already knew about the submarine and Kalle wanted to know whether she was spying for the French by giving her some stale information. Mata Hari, who was unaware that her secrets weren’t really secrets at all, decided to return to Paris to reap the rewards of her spying. When she eventually got in to see Ladoux, he told her that he was not prepared to pay her any money as the information she passed on was not up to date. Mata Hari was despondent and sat around waiting for another assignment.

The alarm over Mata Hari being a German spy went off when a message came through to Ladoux which read:

 

H21 informs us: Princess George of Greece, Marie Bonaparte, is using her ‘intimate relations’ with Briand [Aristide Briande, the then prime minister of France] to get French support for her husband’s access to the Greek throne. She says Briand’s enemies would welcome further defeats in the war to overthrow him. Britain has political and military control of France. French are afraid to speak up. General offensive planned for next spring.

 

Although the message itself was pretty meaningless, it was the fact that Mata Hari had been allotted a code name recognizable by the Germans, that alerted the French authorities. It appeared that the Germans wanted to alert the French to Mata Hari by revealing her code, so that they would do their dirty work for them.

 

condemned to death

 

Mata Hari was arrested for espionage by the French authorities on February 13, 1917. France was hungry for a scapegoat, as it was at a low point in the war. She was interrogated many times by Captain Pierre Bouchardon while she was held at Saint-Lazarre Prison. She continued to deny being a double agent saying, ‘I am innocent. Someone is playing with me – French counter-espionage, since I am in its service, and I have acted only on its instructions.’

The only visitor allowed in to see Mata Hari was her attorney, seventy-four-year-old Edouard Clunet. They had once been lovers and he continued to have feelings for her. However, despite still having an alert legal mind, he proved to have lost his skills at the handling the court and proved to be more of a disadvantage during the trial.

Mata Hari’s arrest was kept secret until her case came to trial on July 24, 1917, at the Palace of Justice. The courtroom was full to the brim with people who wanted to see the once beautiful, exotic dancer who became a spy. Presiding over the trial was Lieutenant-Colonel Albert-Ernest Somprou, while the chief prosecutor was André Mornet. Mornet carefully outlined the case against Mata Hari and said she had been under suspicion and surveillance since her arrival in Paris in May 1916. Despite a distinct lack of evidence, the court found Mata Hari guilty of being a double agent, an offence which was punishable by death.

When Mata Hari heard the sentence, she seemed to be in a state of shock, staring transfixed at the floor. Her attorney, Clunet, wept with his head in his hands. Although Mata Hari hoped for a reprieve during her last months in prison, it was not to be, and she was executed by a firing squad on October 15, 1917, at the age of forty-one.

No one ever claimed the body of Mata Hari and it was taken away to be used for medical studies. Her head was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris, until it mysteriously disappeared in the 1950s.

In the years since her death, Mata Hari has become a legend, despite the fact that her career as a spy was very short-lived and unproductive. She is remembered in history as the ‘greatest woman spy’, which is sadly grossly exaggerated. The truth of the matter is she really made her fame as an exotic dancer and a pleaser of men. Sadly her daughter died in her sleep at the age of twenty-one, the night before she was supposed to travel to the Dutch East Indies to become a teacher.