Mata Hari
| Mata Hari | |
|---|---|
1906 postcard (colorized)
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| Born |
Margaretha Geertruida Zelle 7 August 1876 Leeuwarden, Netherlands |
| Died | 15 October 1917 (aged 41) Vincennes, Paris, France |
| Cause of death | Execution by firing squad |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Known for | Receiving a conviction for pro-German espionage from French military courts in World War I |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Spouse(s) | Rudolf John MacLeod (1895–1906) (divorced) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Adam Zelle Antje van der Meulen |
Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod (born Zelle; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I and executed by firing squad in France.
Margaretha Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. She was the eldest of four children of Adam Zelle (2 October 1840 – 13 March 1910) and his first wife Antje van der Meulen (21 April 1842 – 9 May 1891). She had three brothers. Her father owned a hat shop, made successful investments in the oil industry, and became affluent enough to give Margaretha a lavish early childhood that included exclusive schools until the age of 13. Despite rumours, Zelle had no Asian or Middle Eastern ancestry and both her parents were Dutch, with her mother additionally being of Frisian descent.
Soon after Margaretha's father went bankrupt in 1889, her parents divorced, and then her mother died in 1891. Her father remarried in Amsterdam on 9 February 1893 to Susanna Catharina ten Hoove (11 March 1844 – 1 December 1913), by whom he had no children. The family fell apart, and Margaretha moved to live with her godfather, Mr. Visser, in Sneek. Subsequently, she studied to be a kindergarten teacher in Leiden, but when the headmaster began to flirt with her conspicuously, she was removed from the institution by her offended godfather. A few months later, she fled to her uncle's home in The Hague.
At 18, Zelle answered an advertisement in a Dutch newspaper placed by Dutch Colonial Army Captain Rudolf MacLeod (1 March 1856 – 9 January 1928), who was living in what was then the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and was looking for a wife. Zelle married MacLeod in Amsterdam on 11 July 1895. He was the son of Captain John Brienen MacLeod (a descendant of the Gesto branch of the MacLeods of Skye, hence his Scottish name) and Dina Louisa, Baroness Sweerts de Landas. The marriage enabled her to move into the Dutch upper class, and her finances were placed on a sound footing. They moved to Malang on the east side of the island of Java, traveling out on SS Prinses Amalia in May 1897, and had two children, Norman-John MacLeod (30 January 1897 – 27 June 1899) and Louise Jeanne MacLeod (2 May 1898 – 10 August 1919).
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