Margaretha Geertruda : Exotic Dancer, Seductress, Spy or a victim of War

Since my childhood the unusual name Mata Hari mesmerized me. I had heard lot of interesting stories regarding her fearless life. What I found that there was a certain Asian connectivity to her look with black hair, black eyes and tanned complexion. Though there was none. She was a Dutch and her real name was Margaretha Geertruda Zelle Maclead. Margaretha was an extraordinary life who had chosen the name Mata Hari for herself when she became Europe’s queen of eroticism, lies, seduction and founder of pole dance in 1905. But she was considered as a double agent who worked as a spy for France and Germany and was shot by firing squad in 1917 in France. The irony in her execution lies in the fact that she was a Dutch national, the country which never participated in World War. She was born to the affluent Hat maker and lived a good life till the age of thirteen. She was accused of bedding Headmaster when she was sixteen and later married a Dutch colonial captain Rudolf MacLeod. She bore him two children but her married life remained a disappointment. She said, “I want to live like a colorful butterfly in the sun.” Young men in uniform adored her and Rudolf remained jealous to the extent of raping her. She learned dancing moves from East Indies which helped her later in Europe. After leaving Rudolf, she recreated as exotic dancer, actress, and Cosmo woman. For ten years she remained the most talked public figure in Europe.   

Once on a visit to Berlin, her fur coats and money was seized. She charmed a Dutch businessman to pay her train fare to Amsterdam. There she was visited by Karl Kroemer, German counsel who gave her 20000 Francs to work as a spy. She took his money but did not take his proposal seriously. She told herself that cash was the compensation for the furs and threw the invisible ink away. Later, French placed the same ink in her hotel room to accuse her as a spy.

The hotel Elysee Palace, from where Margaretha was arrested now has an office of HSBC and many people claimed sighting her. In fact, for some strange reasons, the house Kelders 33, where she was born survived a big fire which demolished three houses next to her. She was accused of handing over French secrets to Germans and was taken to forest to be shot by firing squad on October 15, 1917. She was considered as the reason for deaths of tens of thousands of French soldiers. She was regarded as a master of seduction and treachery. But indeed she was the one who was betrayed by the men and the uniform, she loved the most. Nevertheless she was a brave woman who refused blindfold and looked directly into the eyes of firing squad. Very few men and women have braved the adversity of situation to live a life on their own terms.

Mata Hari’s prosecutor conceded the truth after thirty years. He said, ”There was not enough evidence to flog a cat.” The extraordinary story of a woman whose mere existence scared a regime who fought for hundred years with British.