In our newest Stuff Mom Never Told You episode on female spies, Molly and I mentioned history’s most famously infamous lady spy, Mata Hari*. We discussed her back story, World War I secret-swapping among the German and French militaries and her consequential execution. But we didn’t touch on the most intriguing question in the Mata Hari’s posthumous mythology: Was she framed?
Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in the Netherlands in 1876, she left home, got married and moved with her military husband to Indonesia. When the romance dissolved, she dashed off to Paris where she reinvented herself as the exotic dancer, Mata Hari, translated Eye of Dawn from Indonesian. Apparently, her hip shake brought all the boys to the yard — including many high-ranking military officials. As a result, the French and German governments both enlisted Mata Hari as a spy to poach World War I secrets from her powerful suitors.
In 1917, with the help of British intelligence service MI5, France arrested Mata Hari for being a double agent. The Guardian reported that “In the court judgment handed down against her, she was described as ‘one of the greatest spies of the century, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers’.” For her alleged crimes, she was executed by firing squad.
But 84 years later, the Mata Hari Foundation — along with a number of MH biographers — claim the dancer was framed by the French. The Foundation requested French courts to reopen her case to hopefully clear her besmirched name. A spokesman told the press, “Maybe she wasn’t entirely innocent, but it seems clear she wasn’t the masterspy whose information sent thousands of soldiers to their deaths, as has been claimed. She was probably more sexual than criminal.”
Declassified reports from MI5 confirm that Mata Hari was indeed being paid by the German embassy, but whether her role warranted such an extreme death sentence remains a mystery. Either way, the exotic dancer certainly knew how to make a dramatic exit, supposedly refusing a blindfold when facing the 12 gunmen. Which makes you wonder whether Mata Hari herself would really want her epic record rectified.
*Listen to Stuff You Missed in History Class discuss Mata Hari here.
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Filed under: Stuff Mom Never Told You Tagged: mata hari, spies, spying, world war I