Mata Hari is a figure of history shrouded by years of myth, romance, legend, and mystery. Although it is hard to discern what is fact and what is myth, historians and other scholars agree on many aspects of her life. The Fries Museum gathered collections from around the world including personal scrapbooks, photographs, newspaper scraps, unclassified documents, and other Mata Hari memorabilia, to create the largest and most extensive exhibit of Mata Hari. To see this online exhibition of Mata Hari and her life click here. There are many biographies and proclaimed autobiographies of Mata Hari since her unfortunate demise. The Richmond Times Dispatch, for one, ran a long installment of Mata Hari’s “autobiography” in 1918. This page offers basic biographical information on Mata Hari to provide a personalized background to this renowned historical figure.

She was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands as Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in 1876. She had a stable childhood with a wealthy businessman as a father. However, her father lost his money and her parents eventually divorced. Her mother passed away and Mata Hari lived with her relatives for the remainder of her young years.

At the age of eighteen Mata Hari married a captain in the Dutch colonial army who was twenty years her senior. Mata Hari and Rudolph-John MacLeod only knew each other for a short while before they were engaged and subsequently married. During their marriage, Mata Hari and Rudolph had two children who fell ill, and their son passed away. Their marriage was evidently full of unhappiness, turbulence, abuse, and lack of love. Mata Hari and Rudolph both wrote letters to each other and their relatives in which they expressed their feelings about their lives and marriage. The captain was relieved from his sick time in the Netherlands and was stationed in the Dutch East Indies in 1897. With their romance dwindling Mata Hari requested to return to the Netherlands. Both parties were unhappy and separated in 1902 and finalized their divorce in 1906.

In 1903, Mata Hari went to Paris for the first time and fell in love with the adventure it held. In 1904, she moved to Paris permanently after she lost her kids and her marriage ended. She was alone and prompted by the economic struggles of women during the early twentieth century, she found a livable wage as a dancer and courtesan. She became popular in Paris and across Europe known for her Javanese dances and exotic appeal. As Mata Hari grew in fame, her admirers also grew in quantity. Mata Hari was financed and adored by many. With her international travel to see her affluent clients and dance across the stages of many countries, Mata Hari was able to build relationships with high-ranking military officials as they were favorite type. World War I began in 1914. Mata Hari was in Belgium and was declared as an enemy because of her connection to France. Her ties to the governments of different countries made her suspicious. Britain, France, and Germany had her in their sights. Germany and France begun to seek out Mata Hari for her espionage efforts to not only incriminate her, but also to see what information she could obtain.

A captain in the French intelligence agency, known as the Deuxième Bureau named Georges Ladoux built a case on Mata Hari and recruited her for spy work. There are many secret correspondences between the British Metropolitan Police and a couple different French intelligence agencies and sectors who were putting together evidence of Mata Hari’s espionage. Through interrogations and other efforts of the two countries, Mata Hari was found guilty. Her trial lasted from the early winter to the early weeks of October. Her trial was a closed trial full of emotional and psychological abuse. Her guilt was already decided, however, she decided to appeal the charges in which she lost. At the time the appeal for clemency was a diplomatic appeal under the name of the Queen of the Netherlands. The appeal was never passed, and Mata Hari was sentenced to death. She was held in Saint-Lazare, a French women’s prison, where she was accompanied by a nun and few other prisoners.

On the morning of October 15, 1917, Mata Hari was walked into a courtyard in Vincennes, France and executed by a French firing squad. According to newspapers of the time, “father” Rollins tied her to the execution stake. The climax of Mata Hari’s life was ultimately her ill fate at the age of 41. Her death was praised and celebrated in the ally newspapers. Mata Hari would then be a prominent figure in history and popular culture around the globe.