Jan 30 2009
Mata Hari - a mystery to the end
Mata Hari, the famous exotic dancer and infamous spy, was born as Margaretha “Grietje” Zelle in 1876 to a wealthy Dutch family. She received an excellent education, but her sheltered life changed dramatically, when her father went bankrupt, her parents subsequently divorced, her family broke apart and young Grietje went to live with her godfather in The Hague.
At age 18, she answered an ad in a Dutch newspaper by a man looking for a wife and married Dutch colonial officer R.McLoyd. The couple were transferred to Java/Indonesia and Grietje’s life changed forever. Her marriage was a disappointment and a complete failure. Not only did her husband have several mistresses and a concubine, he also drank and behaved violently. Perhaps to compensate for her martial misery, Grietje became interested in local dance and history and even joined a dance company. That’s when she first choose her stage name: Mata Hari, meaning eye of the day or eye of the dawn.
In 1903 the couple were sent back to the Netherlands and divorced in the same year. Mata was finally free to enjoy herself, although financially not well off. She moved to Paris and worked for a while as a circus rider and an artist’s model, all the while improving her dance routines.
By 1905 she began to gather fame with her exotic dances, including seductive shedding of layers of her clothing. She also began to invent an entirely false life story to make her more interesting. She claimed to be of royal Indonesian origin and to have been initated in the ’sacred’ dances by local priests. The mystification of her person paid off as she attracted the interest of millionaire Emile Guimet, whose mistress she became. Being Dutch allowed her to travel freely across Europe, before and during World War I. Mata became involved with many influential politicians and personalities, not least with the German crown prince who paid for her lavish life style. Suspicions about her arose and she was seen more and more as a dangerous seductress than an artiste and a free spirit.
It has been disputed ever since if she really was a spy or if she was made a scape goat. Her case wasn’t helped by her admittting to be a French spy, a fact which was never confirmed by France and may have been just another mystification attempt by Mata. In any event, a German coded message, thanking a spy called H21 was intercepted by the French secret service, Mata was identified as being H21 and put on trial in Paris. Shee was found guilty and sentenced to death. She was executed at age 41 by firing squat.
Just as her life and the circumstances of her aleged spying are shrouded in doubt and mystery, so are the circumstances of her death. She did not show any weakness in the face of the firing squat, but there are controversial reports as to whether she was bound or not and even to what clothes she was wearing. Some contend that her sange froid was due to the fact that until the last moment, she was convinced that only blanks would be fired at her. This however, was not the case and the beautiful impostor died in the dust of Vincenne prison.
