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Who was Mata Hari?

Mata Hari, the stage name of Margaretha Gertrud Zelle (1876–1917), was executed as a spy for the Germans during World War I (1914–18). Born in Holland to a Dutch shopkeeper and his Javanese wife, Zelle studied to be a teacher. She married an officer in the Dutch navy and lived for a time in the Dutch East Indies. Eventually she divorced her husband and moved to Paris, France, where she became an exotic dancer and played the role of a Javanese princess named Mata Hari. Zelle had relationships with many famous men. At that time Britain and France were fighting against Germany in World War I. Because Zelle was having affairs with foreigners, French and British intelligence services suspected her of spying for Germany. The French government arrested Zelle in Paris in early 1917. They tried her in a closed military court and found her guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence (evidence other than testimony by a...

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