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| Mata Hari clothed |
This was a fairly popular post a few years ago so I thought I'd share it again. As an author
of historical fiction, I spend a lot of time researching. Usually, my research
centers on London in the 1660’s. Once and awhile, though, I run across some
information that doesn’t center around my time of expertise, but find it too
interesting not to share.
NOTE: The
source I am using differs from most, especially Margaretha’s early life but it
is too interesting to ignore. I will let you decide which to take home to your
family by making clear the variances in the below text.
Mata Hari
was born on August 7, 1876 as Margaretha Geetruida Zelle in Holland. Her
parents were religious; she grew up Roman Catholic and was sent to a convent at
the early age of 14.
Other sources say:
“Her mother dead and her adored father bankrupt, teenaged Margaretha was sent to train as a kindergarten teacher, only to be seduced by the headmaster.” And another source: “Following her mother's death, Mata Hari and her three brothers were split up and sent to live with various relatives.”
Other sources say:
“Her mother dead and her adored father bankrupt, teenaged Margaretha was sent to train as a kindergarten teacher, only to be seduced by the headmaster.” And another source: “Following her mother's death, Mata Hari and her three brothers were split up and sent to live with various relatives.”
At 18 while
on holiday in The Hague, Margaretha met a Scotsman named MacLeod and married
him. He was a drunk and wife abuser. He did, well you know, the typical things
brutal men do to women so I won’t bore you with them. Other sources say: “Disgraced
and bored, the girl answered a newspaper ad to meet and marry a career colonial
officer twenty years her senior who would be soon returning to the Dutch East
Indies.” My source continues: He took her to Java where he continued his
savagery plus he was a bounder and unfaithful.
No longer a
wide-eyed, postulant schoolgirl, the experience caused Margaretha to deviate
from her chaste background. She studied books in the art of sensual love
performed in Buddhist temples. She was also introduced to the evocative ritual
dances that eventually made her so popular. (Some sources don’t mention this at
all.)
Usually,
life takes strange turns we never expect. Margaretha endured the savagery of
MacLeod, studied sensual love—it’s not recorded if she used this on him or
anyone else for that matter while in Java—as her husband gadded about with
other women. Some were jealous he was married. One was their nurse who took
care of Margaretha & MacLeod’s young son. MacLeod rejected her and in
revenge the nurse poisoned their son. Another source: “The marriage dissolved
in a nightmare of drinking, gambling, and vicious hatred following the death of
their son...”
From now on,
I will continue with my source.
Margaretha
emerged from this a changed woman. She never showed outward emotion but went
forth in life with a face etched in steel. She hated men and she hated MacLeod
whom she blamed for the death of their son. Without remorse she reportedly
strangled the nurse.
Back in
Europe, Margaretha lead a life of the narcissistic.
In France,
Margaretha became Mata Hari, a woman born in “...India within the sacred caste
of Brahma”. After the birth of two children, her body wasn’t the svelte one of
her youth, but that did not stop her from performing naked on stage in Paris.
She spoke in a soft, seductive voice and danced erotic dances, some graceful, others
lewd, only before seen in Buddhist temples.
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| Full Figured Mata Hari |
She was a
sensation throughout Europe. Men begged to have her in their beds. She would
oblige them for no less than $7,500 a night. Her lovers listed in the Who’s Who
of the times; prime ministers, princes, high up men in their governments. She demanded luxurious apartments in Paris,
had milk baths to keep her skin young and supple. When her influential lovers
lost their money, she would kick them to the curb and take another.
She enjoyed
sex and would visit brothels (probably not for $7,500) even as she hated the men
who bedded her, using them for her gain. She was vain, self-indulgent, cruel
and ripe to be approached by the Germans. They sent her to spy-school in
Lorrach and gave her what is now known as a pre-war code number.
Mata Hari
was relentless. She slept with men then betrayed them. She learned of their
plans and sent those plans to the Germans. The figures speak for themselves. It
was declared by the judge at her trial she was considered responsible for the
deaths of 50,000 allied troops but this number seems trivialized. Other sources
say the number is closer to 100,000.
In the end,
the Germans betrayed Mata Hari, but she did not think she would die. Too many
of her lovers told her of their plans for her escape. When those failed, it was
suggested she plea pregnancy, but by now realizing her doom was fixed, Mata
Hari refused to see the doctor.
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| Mata Hari before the firing squad (one source) |
She did not
utter a sound, but smiled when the major barked the final command to fire. Mata
Hari, once a postulant in a convent, her name Margaretha Geetruida Zelle died at
5:47 AM on October 15, 1917, a hated and loved legend of her time.
Many thanks
to:
Main source:
The People’s Almanac by David
Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace, Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, NY,
1975.
Penn State
Science: http://science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2007-news/Shipman7-2007.htm
All pictures
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domain in the United States. This applies
to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior
to January 1, 1923. See this page for further
explanation.
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