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| Blogs > OnDaFence > Bret's Blogisphere |
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100 Years Ago Today  Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, on August 7, 1876, to father Adam Zelle, and mother Antje Zelle, who fell ill and died when Mata Hari was 15 years old. Following her mother's death, Mata Hari and her three brothers were split up and sent to live with various relatives.  At an early age, Mata Hari decided that sexuality was her ticket in life. In the mid-1890s, she boldly answered a newspaper ad seeking a bride for Rudolf MacLeod, a bald, mustachioed military captain based in the Dutch East Indies. By the early 1900s, Mata Hari's marriage had deteriorated. Her husband fled with their daughter, and Mata Hari moved to Paris. There, she became the mistress of a French diplomat who helped her hatch the idea of supporting herself as a dancer.  All things "Oriental" were the fad in the Paris of 1905. The time seemed ripe for Mata Hari's exotic looks and the "temple dance" she created by drawing on cultural and religious symbolism that she had picked up in the Indies.  Mata Hari took the Paris saloons by storm, then moved on to the bright lights of other cities. Along the way, she helped turn the striptease into an art form and captivated critics. Although she daringly bared her buttocks—then considered the most tittilating part of the anatomy—she was modest about her breasts, generally keeping them covered with brassiere-styled beads. Completing her dramatic transformation from military wife to siren of the East, she coined her stage name, "Mata Hari," which means "eye of the day" in Indonesian dialect.  Now nearing 40, plumpish and with her dancing days clearly behind her, Mata Hari fell in love with a 21-year-old Russian captain, Vladimir de Masloff, in 1916. During their courtship, Masloff was sent to the Front, where an injury left him blind in one eye. Determined to earn money to support him, Mata Hari accepted a lucrative assignment to spy for France from Georges Ladoux, an army captain who assumed her courtesan contacts would be of use to French intelligence.  Mata Hari later insisted that she planned to use her connections to seduce her way into the German high command, get secrets and hand them over to the French—but she never got that far. She met a German attaché and began tossing him bits of gossip, hoping to get some valuable information in return. Instead, she got named as a German spy in communiqués he sent to Berlin—which were promptly intercepted by the French. . Some historians believe that the Germans suspected Mata Hari was a French spy and subsequently set her up, deliberately sending a message falsely labeling her as a German spy—which they knew would be easily decoded by the French. Others, of course, believe that she was in fact a German double agent. In any case, the French authorities arrested Mata Hari for espionage in Paris on February 13, 1917.  They threw her in a rat-infested cell at the Prison Saint-Lazare, where she was allowed to see only her elderly lawyer—who happened to be a former lover. The military tribunal deliberated for less than 45 minutes before returning a guilty verdict. "It's impossible, it's impossible," Mata Hari exclaimed, upon hearing the decision.  Mata Hari was executed by firing squad on October 15, 1917. Dressed in a blue coat accented by a tri-corner hat, she had arrived at the Paris execution site with a minister and two nuns and, after bidding them farewell, walked briskly to the designated spot. She then turned to face the firing squad, waved away her blindfold and blew the soldiers a kiss. She was killed in an instant when their multiple gunshots exploded as one.  Mystery continues to surround Mata Hari's life and alleged double agency, and her story has become a legend that still piques curiosity. Her life has spawned numerous biographies and cinematic portrayals, including, most famously, the 1931 film Mata Hari, starring Greta Garbo as the courtesan-dancer and Ramon Novarro as Lieutenant Alexis Rosa  |
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14/10/2017 19h46 |
<<<does pole dance
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14/10/2017 19h47 |
<<< spy's on JD
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14/10/2017 19h49 |
I though it might pique some interest among the history buffs like yourself in here.
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14/10/2017 19h56 |
where do you find all these pictures??? Bret buddy, you sure do a lot of work on your blogs, and it is appreciated. Makes the blog complete and sometimes entertaining. Firing squad huh, guess by 1917 France did away with the guillotine.
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14/10/2017 21h03 |
where do you find all these pictures??? Bret buddy, you sure do a lot of work on your blogs, and it is appreciated. Makes the blog complete and sometimes entertaining. Firing squad huh, guess by 1917 France did away with the guillotine.
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14/10/2017 21h04 |
I love the old pic it a lot of history
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Very interesting and informative, Bret. Thank you.
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14/10/2017 21h43 |
Very interesting and informative, Bret. Thank you.
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15/10/2017 4h31 |
And comments are always appreciated.
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16/10/2017 5h09 |
You are very good writing blogs Brett!!!! I love the history ones as well as your funny ones. I always enjoy them.
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16/10/2017 9h19 |
You are very good writing blogs Brett!!!! I love the history ones as well as your funny ones. I always enjoy them.
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Neat Mata Hari costume.
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17/10/2017 19h08 |
Neat Mata Hari costume.
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Yup that's cool 
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20/10/2017 16h53 |
Yup that's cool
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Was February 13, 1917 a Friday?
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