Sie wurde am 15. It was an almost fittingly horrific ending to a tale punctuated by nightmarish violence. Although, according to the writer, sharing a photo spy with Maslov with a passionate inscription on the back made in one of the French cities (counterintelligence watched Mata Hari), was one of the proofs of exposure of a double agent. Zelle maintained her innocence up until the time of her death. Ladoux was well aware of Britains suspicions that she was a German agent, but he seems to have considered the recruitment a means of either entrapping her or turning her to his side. Buenos Aires. By the early 1900s, Mata Hari's marriage had deteriorated. When a radio from Kalle detailing new information was intercepted by the French, the code name H-21 was quickly assigned to Hari. To order copies of This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. Smithsonian writes that 1476, a barrel of honey preserving the severed head of Vlad Dracula the Impaler, not the vampire arrived in Ottoman-controlled Constantinople. When the ship put in at Cornwall, however, British agents arrested her on suspicion of being a spy and took her back to London. All things "oriental" were in fashion in Paris, and Zelle's exotic looks added to her mystique. Greta Garbo is a delight in this biopic of the exotic dancer executed for espionage, and the supporting moustaches a special treat, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, The art of seduction Ramon Navarro and Greta Garbo in Mata Hari. ThoughtCo. Zelle danced at both private salons and later at large theaters. However, MacLeod refused to provide any financial support for Zelle to support her daughter, forcing her to move to Paris alone to earn money. She claimed to have dumped the invisible ink given to her, never considering actually spying. In 1899, two-year-old Norman died after reportedly being poisoned by a nanny. According to the Star, the officers noted that on Aug. 4, 1916, Hari wrote to a Don Diego de Leon and then met a Capt. In 1857, he was appointed Denmark's Minister Resident in Washington, DC. When a scandal broke out, Zelle was asked to leave the school, so she went to live with her uncle, Mr. Taconis, in The Hague. The dancer evidently made a bumbling attempt to glean information from Kalle, but she may have also offered him her services as a spy. Suspected of being a double agent, she was executed in 1917. She is supposed to have replied Sigismund focused on beating back the Ottomans, and Vlad the Dragon aided in that effort. Known For: Working as a spy for Germany during World War I Also Known As: Margaretha Geertruida Zelle; Lady MacLeod Born: August 7, 1876 in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands Parents: Adam Zelle, Antje van der Meulen Died: October 15, 1917 in Paris, France Spouse: Rudolf "John" MacLeod (m. 18951906) Children: Norman-John MacLeod, Louise Jeanne MacLeod Mata Hari maintained that the young Captain Vladimir de Masloff was the only man she had really ever loved. When he was blinded and injured at the front and sent to recover in France, Zelle desperate to see him, asked French army Captain Georges Ladoux permission to see him. It is the first time she has fallen in love and perhaps the first time she has met a man who did not simply desire her for sex. Once Europes most prominent striptease performer, Dutch dancer Mata Hari was executed by a French firing squad after she was found guilty of spying for the Germans during World War I. In 1917 Maslov the captain of the infantry regiment. Either because she was ineffectual or because her recruitment by the French came to their attention, the German transmission of a radio message detailing Hari using a code already broken by the French may not have been accidental. Over the course of his life the brutal ruler of Wallachia had killed an estimated 80,000 people, a quarter of which had been impaled on stakes and brandished like flags of flesh outside the city of Targoviste. Margaretha exchanged the surname Zelle for MacLeod in 1895, when she married an officer of the Dutch East India company, Rudolf MacLeod. Tuskegee Airman Clarence D. Lester Broke Barriers, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Mata Hari, Birth Year: 1876, Birth date: August 7, 1876, Birth City: Leeuwarden, Birth Country: Netherlands. Mata Haris trial began on July 24, 1917, but with cards stacked against the 41-year old former exotic dancer, its outcome was never really in doubt. Following the death of their young son, they moved back to Europe and divorced. Erik Sass is covering the events of the war exactly 100 years after they happened. Taken to military prison, she immediately denied the charges, writing, I am innocent. Wenig spter wurde Mata Hari jedoch beschuldigt, ein deutscher Spion zu sein. Their divorce became final in 1906. The Zelle family was fraught with issues. On the outbreak of war she tried to return to Paris, hoping to reconnect with old patrons there, arousing the suspicions of German officials who confiscated all her property, leaving her destitute. He gave it to her on condition she work for French intelligence. Chronologically, the novel by Vadim Maslov and Mata Hari only lasted a few months (including his exclusively epistolary part). Biography of Mata Hari, Infamous World War I Spy. The marriage was an unpleasant one. When faced with her acquaintances with officers of all ranks and all nations, she replied that she loved all officers, and would rather have as her lover a poor officer than a rich banker, the MI5 files note. That file also notes her German spymasters gave her vials of invisible ink. Find exactly what you're looking for! "A courtesan, I admit it. MacLeod drank heavily and detested his pretty young wife, writing to a friend during an epidemic of disease in Indonesia that he wished it would "free me from this creature" ie, kill her. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. She also took a number of lovers (often military men from various countries) who were willing to provide her financial support in exchange for her company. IMDb's advanced search allows you to run extremely powerful queries over all people and titles in the database. By then, Mata Hari had begun a passionate romance with Vladimir de Masloff, a 21-year-old Russian army captain. In 1917 Maslov - the captain of the infantry regiment. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. . In March 1895, while still staying with her uncle, 18-year-old Zelle became engaged to Rudolph "John" MacLeod after answering a personal ad in the newspaper. Its leader was future Holy Roman Emperor King Sigismund of Hungary, who inducted Vlad's father, Vlad the Dragon, into the order, per Live Science. 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. Her appearance. The Germans were aware that the Allies had cracked this particular cipher, and were using it with the knowledge any messages they sent would be decoded, all in an attempt to sow confusion and hopefully trick the French into revealing some of their intelligence assets. Sources suggest the children might have been suffering the effects from over-treatment for syphilis. Productions like the 1931 film Mata Hari starring Greta Garbo, perpetuated the story of the glamorous courtesan and exotic dancer with a dangerous double life as a spy who was suddenly found out by the French, and executed in 1917. It's worth noting that tales of Vlad's brutality may have been somewhat exaggerated by enemies. The story carries . A spy, never! But, as mentioned, she admitted to taking payment under questioning and was sentenced to death by firing squad. Mata Hari wanted to marry him but needed to make enough money to support him. The famous courtesan and exotic entertainer Margaretha Zelle (Mata Hari) reaches her middle years disillusioned with life until she meets. Without a husband, career, and money, Zelle used her experiences in Indonesia to create a new persona, one who donned jewels, smelled of perfume, spoke occasionally in Malay, danced seductively, and often wore very few clothes. Just what transpired between the two is the subject of much debate. The evil that this woman has done is unbelievable, prosecutor Andre Mornet concluded in his final statement. "What sacred things?" Mata Hari's lover was a Russian aviator named Alexis Rosanoff. Hari argued that she had viewed the money as recompense for the jewels, belongings and money taken from her at the start of the war, when she had been considered an enemy alien in Berlin due to her prolonged residence in Paris. Mata Hari on the day of her arrest in her room at the Hotel Elyse Palace, Paris, 13 February 1917. She danced at ballets and operas. In one memorable garden performance, Mata Hari appeared nearly naked on a white horse. Her face, he wrote, "makes a strange foreign impression." She commences something billed as a "sacred dance of Indonesia" that consists of some awkward writhing around in sequins and veils. She billed herself as a Hindu artist, draped in veilswhich she artfully dropped from her body. Genealogy profile for Vladimir Malka Genealogy for Vladimir Malka (Masloff) (1894 - 1944) family tree on Geni, with over 245 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. After 10 years, Zelles act was no longer fashionable though she was still able to support herself as a courtesan, though naively, she slept with both French and German soldiers in a Europe at war. However the last few years has seen a revision of these events and of Mata Hari herself. We strive for accuracy and fairness. But were not. Her constant movementsnot to mention her presence in Germany at the beginning of the warhad soon attracted the attention of British intelligence, which suspected her of being an enemy agent. Historian Stephen Bourne, author of 'Fighting Proud', discusses the role of gay servicemen in the world wars and the challenges of publishing gay history. "I have always lived for love and pleasure.". Zelle was no longer a sleek dancer when in 1916 she started to spy for France during World War I. Historian Julie Wheelwright also attributes this quasi-respectability to Haris emergence from private salons rather than music halls. She told them she simply viewed the money as compensation for furs and luggage that had once disappeared on a departing train while German border guards hassled her. But he evidently thought this arrangement sucked harder than his vampire counterpart. "Shiva, I dance for you tonight," intones Mata Hari (Greta Garbo) to a six-armed statue of the Hindu god. I never could dance well, she later admitted. Though he himself had affairs, he was jealous of attention awarded to his wife by other men. But she swore to investigators that she never actually fulfilled the bargain and always remained faithful to France. British Arrest (02:49) As a French spy, Mata Hari boarded a boat for Belgium. Her marriage broke up after she returned to her native Netherlands in 1902. Suspected of being a double agent, she was executed in 1917. Astrological Sign: Leo, Death Year: 1917, Death date: October 15, 1917, Death City: Vincennes, Death Country: France, Article Title: Mata Hari Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/military-figures/mata-hari, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: September 15, 2020, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. A long-time member of the Democratic Party and civil servant, she was elected to the Pittsburgh City Council and later served as the mayor of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 1994. Many people who met her say that she was sociable but just not smart enough to pull off such a feat. Andriani is furious with a German captain who has served as his technical expert, and who assured him that the "new weapon called a tank" was impractical. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Tuskegee Airman Clarence D. Lester Broke Barriers, Biography: You Need to Know: Rick Thornton. She was accused of spying for Germany, causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers, and was put on trial in July 1917. Wheelwright thinks this was likely bravado on the dancers part. . Photograph: Rex Features, Greta Garbo, C Henry Gordon and Lionel Barrymore in Mata Hari. 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