"Amidst a thousand dandelions
One shining orchid stands."
(These were the opening lines of a poem that was dedicated to Margaretha Geertruida who later came to be known to the world as Mata Hari.)
Margaretha Geertruida was born on August 7, 1876 in Holland(the Netherlands). She was the second child of Adam Zelle and his wife Antje van der Meulen and only sister of four Zelle boys. Her father was a wealthy businessman. Margaretha Geertruida (Mata Hari), throughout her youth was accustomed to servants and a life full of luxury and aristocracy. She was affectionately called M'greet. As she later recalled, her father seemed to regard her as "an orchid among buttercups."
Adam Zelle gave her a special present on her sixth birthday : a miniature carriage to which two goats were harnessed and could seat four passengers. He had made the carriage himself. She knew how to drive a carriage as she often used to take the reins of her father's jitney. She was utterly pleased to display her present and pick up her friends in it.
Miss Buy's School during those time was one among the posh schools that only wealthy people could afford, it was just within the reach of the financially stable Adam Zelle. Miss Buy's school, apart from being one among the posh schools had mostly girls coming from the socially established citizens during those times. Miss Buy's school taught only one foreign language at that time - French. French was the most fashionable language during those times in Holland. Later on Margaretha continued her studies at the High school for girls at Groote Houtstraat. At Groote Houtstraat, English and German were the languages that were given importance and imparted to the students who were interested in languages.
During those days too M'greet showed a flair for the dramatic. She loved wearing ostentatious clothes to school and telling the stories of her exalted origins and sometimes she would tell them that she lived in a castle. Though she was not always believed for her fantasy, she was a popular person. Teachers liked her too, as she was a bright student.
In 1889, when Margaretha was 13, Adam Zelle went bankrupt. It marked the dissent for the family. Though Zelle tried his level best to revamp his lost business, all his efforts were in vain and however hard he tried, he could not re-establish himself. Now that the Zelle family had lost all its glory, fortune, riches, name, fame etc., the disaster also evoked problems amongst the parents of Margaretha. The pressure of survival was mounting on both of them and the only resort they had was separation. After nine months of separation, Margaretha’s mother died and hence the family fragmented. After the death of Margaretha’s mother, there was hardly anyone who could take care of the children. There was no resort but to disperse the children to the able and willing relatives who could take care of them.
Margaretha was sent to live with her godfather, Heer Visser. Though at that time, her godfather had no idea what to do with the 15-year-old girl whom he was supporting, it was mandatory that he thought about Margaretha’s future. It was also time to decide how she could earn her living. Suddenly it occurred to him that Margaretha could be sent to Leiden where she could be trained as a kindergarten teacher and could earn her own living. During those times, this was the only place where one could get trained to be a kindergarten teacher. In Holland, there was no other similar organization or school; it was the only of its kind. Margaretha was not fit for a career in teaching. This type of job could be best suited for a ‘motherly’ type of a girl and Margaretha was not quite the same character, she was more of a ‘personality’ type of a person. But as things progressed, the headmaster fell for her style and audacity. He became her boyfriend. But during those times their affair could not go beyond the hand holding stage, but what created a major problem was that the headmaster’s public display of affection became such a gossip that her godfather pulled her out of the school and sent her to live with her uncle Mr Taconis, in Hague. By this time, Margaretha was 17, slender with long black hair and ‘impudent eyes’ as it was described of her eyes during that time.
In Hague, many officers from the Colonial Army in the Dutch East Indies (now known as Indonesia) used to spend their vacations. Margaretha, however, was highly attracted towards the uniform of the army. Unlike Victorian women, Margaretha had a tall figure of about 5 feet 9 inches. Her style, mannerism, straightforwardness and attitude were unique. An ad appeared in a newspaper. The ad went something like :
“Officer on Home Leave from Dutch East Indies Would Like To Meet A Girl of Pleasant Character – Object Matrimony.”
Margaretha responded saying that she lived all alone in Hague, and smartly she slipped in her photograph with the letter. Rudolph John MacLeod was the person whom the advertisement referred to. He was a muscular man with a large nose with a bump in the bridge, and had thick, white whiskers curling at both ends. He was a heavy drinker and was troubled by diabetes and rheumatism.
Her attraction towards him did raise eyebrows. The reason could be, as she once claimed she had liking for men in uniform and was attracted by MacLeod’s extensive array of medals and achievements. It is also believed that, she was attracted to a man about her father’s age because of her being a ‘a daddy’s girl’.
Rudolph, an officer then, started correspondence with Margaretha through letters soon. It was hardly six days since she had met Rudolph first, and she found herself engaged to him. Soon the letter-content had changed its shape, now the letters were less formal and had turned forwarding, loving and sensual too.
On July 11, 1895 Margaretha married Rudolph, after almost three-and-a-half month’s courtship. Rudolph was 39 while Margaretha had not even turned 19. Many writers claim that the primary reason for a hasty wedding was that Margaretha was pregnant. But according to Sam Waagenaar, her biographer, said that he had personally received a copy from the Vital Statistics Bureau of the city of Amsterdam, which stated that John MacLeod and Margaretha Zelle had a son Norman John who was born on January 13, 1897. If this were correct, then it means that Margaretha had given birth to her first born after about 18 months of their wedding day.
Life finally changed when Margaretha gave birth to their first baby boy, Norman John. This bundle of joy brought happiness in their lives and what’s more the MacLeods were now close together, but in financial crisis due to the expenses of wedding and honeymoon and finally a baby too. As revealed by her later, at the time of divorce, Margaretha cried bitterly and pointed out that when Margaretha had given birth to a baby, John was having sex with a native girl in the next room. After five months of the baby’s birth they finally decided to shift to the Dutch East Indies. Margaretha thought this was going to be a great adventure. She now turned 20 years old while John was 41. After having shifted to the East Indies, Margaretha gave birth to their second child, a baby girl Jeanne Louise, on May 2, 1898. Jeanne was nicknamed ‘Non’, that is an abbreviation for a Malayalam word ‘Nonah’, which means a young girl. However, things were not much different for Margaretha. There were daily fights and arguments and of course some unpleasant situations still continued.
Life was now slowly changing for Margaretha. She was now a mother too apart from being a wife. Rudolph was slowly realizing what it meant to marry an exceptionally pretty girl and the one who was very young too. Rudolph had experienced many such incidents when men on streets had tried to flirt with Margaretha, and Rudolph, left with no choice, had to defend her honor. When things started going beyond his control he started accusing Margaretha of flirting with other men. He had a Casanova kind of an attitude, and he did not change much after marriage. His old ways and habits stuck to him like glue. He was many times accused of being too rough with his wife by many of his friends. He used to accuse Margaretha in public too.
A friend of Rudolph, De Balbian Verster, narrated such an incident. It was hardly three weeks after Rudolph’s wedding with Margaretha, and Rudolph had asked him to give Margaretha company. Meanwhile, Rudolph went to a brothel for a date with two girls and was expected to be home late. Rudolph had developed this habit when he was in the East Indies. A close family friend believed “Margaretha was a young woman with the best intentions, who suffered greatly from her husband’s jealousy, rude manners, and neglect, which was already in evidence during the first weeks after their return from their honeymoon.”
Since Rudolph looked old, people even commented, ‘this battle-scarred soldier is a perfect replacement for her father’. Margaretha, when she got married had no dowry, this was usually expected and was also a custom that was followed by people during those times and was expected by girls of marriageable age. As if this was not enough, Margaretha was too tall for any normal girl, and from an early age did not show any promising signs of a bosom. There was almost nothing better that could have happened to Margaretha at that time; her father had abandoned her; there was nothing as a certain future for her; she had no work and as a result she did not have much money with her and nor did she have any specialized skills as such. Margaretha’s husband was an uneven tempered person. Her marriage was a failure for sure. Life was burdensome and unbearable, as she was insulted in public time and again. They fought almost every day.
John then got transferred to Medan, another city. Margaretha would be called there later and in the meanwhile he would get settled in Medan. Margaretha, however left their home and started living with the Van Rheedes. Van Rheedes served as the chief accountant for the Dutch army in the East Indies. This was the time when Margaretha really did what she liked. She used to like dressing in the native ‘Sarong’ and ‘Kabaja’, in English those dresses would be a skirt and a blouse. Also among the usual other dresses were laced up, tight-fitting corsets. She enjoyed the brightly patterned clothing. Her keen interest got her invitation to one of Javanese dance dramas and it went on for days and days. Slowly her fascination for history, language and culture of Indonesia grew and slowly and secretly she started learning Malay bit by bit, though she could not speak much of the language fluently but she somehow could manage to speak a word here and there.
Time passed and her knowledge too increased. Many a times at parties in the local club, when soldiers and their wives were being entertained by the native folk dance performers, Margaretha would often join them in their dances, flailing herself about uninhibitedly to the delight of the onlookers. To her relatives, in 1897, Margaretha wrote about she being asked to dance by the officers in the Dutch East Indies, and she also mentioned that she had taken the name ‘Mata Hari’ which in Malay meant ‘the eye of dawn’. Interestingly, Margaretha was attracted towards Hindu mythology and would hunt around the town for people who would translate the dance dramas to her. This interest of hers made her identify herself more and more to the Hindu pantheon. At times when she was alone in her room, she would perform the slow, hypnotic dances and most of the time the only musical accompaniment were the sounds of an orchestra in her head. With her soul too now being too much attached to the dancing and herself being attracted to the Hindu mythology, Margaretha realized that she was becoming more or less an ‘Apsara’, or a Celestial Dancing Girl, whose moments of happiness could be realized only when she was dancing for the Gods.
John, meanwhile was busy with his life in Medan, he was sending no money to his wife or children. Margaretha had no financial support from her husband. It was very embarrassing for her. On the other hand, John used to write to his relatives, and in those long letters, he complained about Margaretha’s lack of maternal instincts. In his letters he wrote her in detail how she should be prepared to clean the house herself, and also mentioned that though being a Garrison Commander’s wife, she should not neglect her duties as a mother of two children.
Finally, John sent word for Margaretha and the children. They had brief moments of happiness, especially when they used to entertain officials to their place. Margaretha used to dress exclusively on such occasions and felt very excited. She enjoyed the status as the wife of an army commander during the show. John, however, did not much enjoy or like the attention that Margaretha used to get in such parties and in public. In a letter to a friend, Margaretha complained about her husband not buying her new clothes. He was afraid that she would look beautiful in it. It was because of her elegance and grace that Margaretha had many lieutenants fall in love with her and at many places things were clear to John. Moreover, for Margaretha it was getting increasingly difficult for her to behave in such a way that gave John no reason for reproaches.
Again, life for Margaretha was becoming more and more difficult and neighbors too were disturbed by the frequent quarrels that they used to have and most of the late night quarrels would interfere with their sleep. With the passage of time, John started to drink too much and was becoming more and more violent. Many a times he used to even take her by force after having beaten her up into submission. Life with John was becoming hell for Margaretha. She became his scapegoat; his frustrations were released brutally on Margaretha. Low financial position was a problem; her dazzling beauty was a problem and of course not to mention her interest in native lore. There was nothing that could stabilize life at home. The more John was irritated by Margaretha, the more native mistresses he used to have. Margaretha had to divert her attention to something else. Slowly, again she began to withdraw herself into Hindu mythology. She acquired some erotic literature from some friend that she used to keep concealed, and when time would permit she used to read sexual practices of the Hindus. She had read in great detail the ‘Kokh Shastra’ and the ‘Kamasurta’ – a world of sensual hitherto unexplored by Europeans. Not many Victorian women were even aware of the existence of such a thing.
It was just almost one month that Margaretha had settled in Medan, catastrophe struck, the two children were mysteriously poisoned. The two-and-a-half year old son Norman died of the poison, but the little girl survived the accident because she had not consumed much of the supper. Investigation reports revealed that the poison found in the sauce which was consumed with rice. Rumors spread. One of them was, John had beaten up a native soldier, and incidentally this soldier was in love with the children’s nurse. The nurse, in order to take revenge of her lover being beaten up, had poisoned the children. The nurse, however, remained the prime suspect of the homicide. She was never charged for the accusations and the case was never resolved. John on the other hand, used to accuse Margaretha for being careless about the children, which was the reason why their child died. John was transferred back again to Java to a village called Banjoe-Biroe. Finally after having thought over it for a long time and considering their life together being not so fruitful, the two decided to go for a legal separation.
Margaretha was suddenly hit by typhoid fever and was in a critical condition. She was later sent to Kroepoek to recuperate. John had an equally miserable time. He was alone now and had been given the custody of the child. In his letters to his cousin in Holland, he often complained that Margaretha’s illness was driving expensive funds out of his pocket. Hence, his main cause of worry was his money. In a letter to Margaretha, he wrote, “The thing that makes me so often inwardly complain is the fact that we never have any financial luck, and what a great many rotten things we have been obliged to do on account of all that lack of money.”
John was sly. He had once proposed to Margaretha that both of them operate a badger game. He schemed up a plan to lure wealthy plantation owners in Java and Sumatra to his wife. And while the two would be having sex, John would bash in through the door and suddenly behave like an outraged husband who might just kill anyone who is sleeping with his wife. Finally, they both would land up blackmailing the victims in exchange of heavy money. Margaretha, while revealing such astonishing secrets, mentioned John’s philosophy “Man Is An Animal ! Let’s Make The Most Of It.” And during their divorce proceedings Margaretha claimed that at that time she was too innocent and had been easily lured by her husband’s words. She said, “My husband picked wealthy men as suitable objects for blackmail. One gentleman was a great admirer of my eyes and I led him on as I was told to… I had collected several thousand guilders.”
John developed aging ailments. He finally retired in October 1900. He was 42 by then. He found it was cheaper to live on his monthly pension in Indonesia rather than Holland. He shifted and settled down in Sindanglaja, a small village near Bandung. For Margaretha, life still never stabilized. She was in her early 20s and was married to someone twice her age, had an extremely low financial status, and there was not even enough money to make ends meet. In her letters, Margaretha used to write to her father how stingy her husband was and said that money was a major reason to many fights with him. She revealed how John was cruel to her and many times had threatened her with a gun. Their family doctor was worried about John. He thought that John was mentally imbalanced and appreciated Margaretha for her tolerant and respectable behavior in spite of the insults and maltreatment in public.
Life continued, but Margaretha could not forget the time she had in Holland. She used to request frequently to return to Holland, and finally after too much of persistence her wishes were granted and in March 1902, they boarded a naval transport to Amsterdam. She thought at least there would be no separation if they were on home ground. John and Margaretha were tired of the life they had in the Indies, there were many sad memories associated with it. Even after reaching Holland, the couple fought incessantly. One fine day when Margaretha returned home, she was shocked, her apartment was empty, and John had gone away with their four-year-old daughter. Margaretha, after hard efforts tracked them down, but it was in vain, a separation was slapped on her face brutally. However, she was returned her daughter and was promised monetary support but that never reached her.
John cruelly put an advertisement in the Amsterdam newspapers : “I request all and sundry not to supply goods or services to my estranged wife Margaretha MacLeod-Zelle.” He also spread the word that it was Margaretha who had deserted him. She looked for some employment but found nothing. Unable to feed or clothe Non, she reluctantly returned her to John.
Margaretha was now on her own. She had been separated and penniless, she had no work skills and there was hardly any future for this 27-year-old lady. She recalled, in the East Indies, how intrigued she became as she read the Dutch newspapers that presented the easy life in Paris, then the center of culture and the arts. Anonymous writers had written about the huge volumes of talent and arts and those being highly appreciated there. She had in her mind a vague picture towards that unknown land that she had never seen but she was sure that perhaps she had a better future there, and finally she decided to leave for Paris and try her luck there.
The Solitary Life & The Enchantress
Paris was a place that she had dreamt of having a taste for art, a city that seemed to have an overflowing supply of artistic activities. Margaretha had dreamed of many unknown adventures. Things had to change, life had to be better, and it was Margaretha’s turn to hold the reins of her life.
Meanwhile for a change, Margaretha went to live with uncle Taconis in Hague. Though John was a ruthless husband, he was a loving father and persisted to get his daughter back from the wife. Margaretha had decided to put up a fight with him. But she had hardly any money to sustain herself. Paris, she thought was her next hope.
Margaretha landed in France with a lot of expectations for future. She had come down hopeful, romantic, confused and penniless. She got herself a room in a cheap hotel that was frequented by artists a lot. A well-wisher suggested that she could work as a model. She was hesitant but later decided to plunge into it. Her liking for the theater and desperation to survive gave her a push to apply for it. During those times, paintings and novelty photographs of nudes were in. She was aghast but soon realized that the other option open to her was to go back to Holland, which she did not want to.
Jean Guillaumet was one among the renowned painters of those times. He thought Margaretha was very beautiful and had a very good body. Margaretha had disrobed for the first time for Jean. ‘Mata Hari’, the name Margaretha had taken, was alarmingly beautiful and statuesque. Jean had devised a costume for Mata Hari that revealed everything except her bosom. That, he thought, was the only thing unattractive in her body. Many people made sharp and critical remarks on her bosom. Mata Hari’s trademark was a bejeweled bra that she wore. It was there in each and every picture of hers and she even wore it for her dance events.
To Mata Hari, her beauty was everything she could capitalize on, and she wanted to make the most out of it. She quickly started to look for other avenues for earning. Performing on horse shows was something that she had learnt as a child, but it had no future. But M Molier gave her a suggestion :
‘Dancing’. He said that with a body like hers she could be successful at dancing than with horses. ‘Wow, Dancing’…she thought. She took it like a challenge, being creative, innovative and brave. Parisians were pleasure seekers. Mata Hari finally made her debut. Her first performance was as an Oriental dancer at the salon of Mme Kireevsky, an active singer in Paris. Mata Hari’s success was almost instantaneous. She was, in a short span, known around for her dancing skills and her much talked about body. Life was about to meet Mata Hari with its arms wide open. M Guimet, a wealthy industrialist and a person interested in oriental art proposed to present Mata Hari in a lavish production in his private museum. This was the turning point of her life. She would not be Margaretha MacLeod any more but an exotic dancer, Mata Hari. Guimet suggested that she should change her name officially, and she became Mata Hari. She had used this name ever since she started dancing at clubs in front of officers in Java.
However, Mata Hari was considered to be a dancer from India, and many believed it. Her style of dance was very different and very elegant too. When Mata Hari danced, she used to discard her clothes, piece by piece, and at the end of the dance what clung on her body was a jeweled bra, armbands and headpiece. After many years of her dancing career she had once confided to the Dutch painter Piet Van Der Hem, “I never could dance well, people came to see me because I was the first who dared to show myself naked to the public.” She had become very casual and was not conscious about being naked in public. She had acquired this after having posed as a nude model. Taking off her clothes for artists and photographers led her easily into dancing in a state of nudity just like the statues and paintings of the holy ‘apsaras’ in the Hindu scriptures.
It was an era when women were supposed to be covered in clothes from head to toe. Disrobing in public in such an era required more of daring and confidence. Even the display of female ankles was considered to be erotic and provocative. People were fascinated. They went ga-ga over her and her body. Mata Hari had caught sight of many people of the top class of the Parisian society and was slowly earning more and more. People mostly fell in love with her. She soon had scores of wealthy and famous admirers, and many among them were her lovers.
Mata Hari’s dances were very erotic and she was aware of it. She fascinated her critics too. Yet she was not the cheap kind of a dancer who would be dismissed after a performance. Hers was an upper class status dance. After her performance she could easily mingle with the guests who came to see her performance since she had the manners of how to behave in highly civilized society. Also very smartly Mata Hari capitalized on her past; she presented herself saying that she was connected to the royalty in the distant past and called herself Lady MacLeod. Mata Hari was aware of the importance of publicity. She was the center of attraction and she always used to keep the attention anchored to her all the time. A reporter reported about her dance, ‘embellishing her descent and dance origins’. She took their fantasies and added myth to whatever stories they had connoted, she never told the same story twice. She had huge volumes of stories in her head. Her most interesting stories were about sensuous descriptions of secret religious rituals that she had supposedly participated in as a temple dancer. Her fame spread and her admirers and fans multiplied. There were many articles on this ‘Lady’ MacLeod in the Dutch press.
Initially, Mata Hari appeared in many private parties and at soirees; exclusively dancing for upper class. The audience usually consisted of an intimate and selected lot. She soon rose to greater heights. Maitre Clunet had introduced her to the great impresario Gabriel Astruc. It was like a big boom, her first greater public appearance was at the Olympia Theater on the Boulevard Des Capucines. She was the star attraction there and presented to the public amidst the best-known international variety acts. Among the performances given that day were, Fred Karno, the performer who later trained Charlie Chaplin. Another was a juggler ‘Leo and his infernal violin’; there were some acrobats present and some Arabian dancers. Mata Hari was amidst this huge sea of talented artists and performers. For her first appearance she was given an enormous salary of 10,000 francs.
The audiences were spellbound at her performance. The press was ecstatic. Le Journal, one of the most influential morning newspaper, described Mata Hari’s performance in a scintillating review saying ‘Mata Hari personifies all the poetry of India, its mysticism, its voluptuousness, its languor, its hypnotizing charm. To see Mata Hari in a rhythm and with attitudes that are poems of wild voluptuous grace is an unforgettable spectacle. A really paradise like dream.’
This was just a beginning for Mata Hari. Following the success of the Olympia Theater, Gabriel Astruc secured many contracts for Mata Hari in Spain and Monte Carlo where she danced to the music of Massenet in the opera ‘Le Roi De Lahore.’ Puccini, who was in the audience, was completely mad after her performance. It was 1906 then and Mata Hari, the exotic dancer simply marched ahead and achieved triumph after triumph and finally became the mistress of a wealthy German landowner, Herr Kepert. This alliance with Herr made her completely retire from the stage for almost about a year during which she was given an apartment in West Berlin. This was one among the many friendships that led to her downfall when she was accused of being a spy.
The Artisan
Being a dancer did not just happen to Mata Hari, it was simply to what her adapted practices and provocative picture postcard poses led her to. Her mood was melancholy and her movements were very sensual and suggestive. Some critics in Paris wrote for her, “Suddenly Mata Hari appears; the eye of dawn, the glorious sun, the sacred bayadere whom only the priests and the gods can claim to have seen in the nude. She is tall and slim and supple like the unrolled serpent which is hypnotized by the snake charmer’s flute, her flexible body at times become one with the undulating flames to stiffen suddenly in the middle of her contortions, like the flaming blades of a kris. Then with a brutal gesture, Mata Hari rips off her veils, tears at her jewels, and throws away the ornaments that cover her breasts and naked her body seems to lengthen way up to the shadows ! Her outstretched arms lift her unto the very tip of her toes; she staggers, beat the empty air with her shattered arms, whips the imperturbable night with her long heavy hair and falls to the ground. So feline, extremely feminine, majestically tragic, the thousands curves and movements of her body trembling in a thousand rhythms. Mata Hari danced like David before the holy of the holies, like Salambo before Tamit, like Salome before Herod.”
Many people used to wonder what type of dance she performed. It was an occasional Javanese religious dance drama she did when she accompanied her husband to the Dutch East Indies. The dances of Indonesia were very slow in their movements and more trance like. But when this dance had been adopted by Mata Hari to present before the Western world, it turned out to be more hodge-podge fantasy. A viewer described her music as ‘Inspired by Hindu and Javanese melodies’. There was a great mixture in her dance. It never had the traces of its origination from one place except that it was being performed by one person. There was a concoction of a strangely put together costume that resembled a Javanese winged head piece, jeweled breast-plates, and a hip scarf that brought to her ensemble a pseudo Egyptian look. Its professional name was misleading. It was ‘Malay’ but she called her dance Hindu, although she had never been to India. But in the end, nothing really mattered. No one bothered or cared enough because Mata Hari was selling nothing but sex and was really good at it.
Once an admirer wrote a note “No one before has dared to remain like this without any veils, Mata Hari does not only act with her feet, her arms, eyes, mouth and crimson fingernails, Mata Hari unhampered by any clothes, plays with her whole body. And then, when the gods remain unmoved by the offer of her beauty and youth, she offers them her love, chastity, and one by one her veils fall at the feet of the god. Erect in her proud and victorious nudity, she offers the god the passion which burns in her.”
Another of her great admirer was the French novelist Collette, and having witnessed many of Mata Hari’s performances he wrote, “I have seen her dance at Emma Clave’s. She did not actually dance, but with graceful movements, shed her clothes. She arrived fairly naked at her recitals, danced ‘vaguely’ with down cast eyes, and would disappear enveloped in veils.” There were some places that had actually prohibited nudity, for such places Mata Hari wore a skin colored leotard, which made it appear that she was actually nude.
Her pictures, where she had posed nude and which she had done in order to survive, became popular. Lots of admirers collected them. Mata Hari cleverly would entice her future patrons in the audience. They tried their level best to catch her attention but then she would obviously go with the highest bidder. Slowly she was gathering a name of a well-known courtesan. Her first lover was a German lieutenant, Herr Kepert, who had brought her to Berlin in 1906 and had given her an apartment to stay there, an apartment that was at a very safe distance from his wife. He took all the care that she would not have the slightest hint of it. Mata Hari’s 11-year association with Herr had raised suspicions whether Mata Hari was a spy. Mata Hari’s lovers, out of which most were very well-known, however did not mind her pursuing a career though she lived discretely with them. She had started off her career in France, and went performing in different places like Spain, Monte Carlo, before dazzling the
Vienna’s crowd. She had gone for a short three-month vacation in 1907 and probably was with Herr Kiepert. From there she wrote to her agent Gabriel Astruc, “I took a long voyage to Egypt as far as Assuan, hoping to find classical dances; but unfortunately everything that is lovely has disappeared and the dances that are left are insignificant and not graceful.” Mata Hari called her dances ‘oriental’, and considered herself ‘authentic’. No one knows till date as why did she not use Arabic music for her dances. She had met quite a lot of them like street dancers and musicians, lots of ghawazee and rababas, mizmars, neys and darboukas but nothing could move her. But however she did not like foreign music. All she liked and was inspired by was the Indonesian music that she had been listening to and dancing on for long now. In a photograph, she is seen being backed by Indian orchestra under the direction of Inayat Khan consisting of tablas, sitars, two sarods and a sarangi.
Mata Hari had a perfect sense of timing for letting out statements and comments. She was a smart lady, always ready for what was called as the La Belle Epoch. This was the time when Frenchmen used to gossip around and get involved in conduct way beyond norms would have otherwise allowed. The rich were very complacent and ecadent, serving up for dessert the daily gossip of who was who’s lover or mistress. Courtesans were immediately impressed by the wealthy because their riches could support their extravagant lifestyle to fulfill their wishes. Mata Hari saw no reason why she should not go for it. Chances for another marriage were almost nil. She also saw how well men flirted with her, and she, being an object of desire for many men without a commitment or promise of security, she was certainly in a dilemma.
Mata Hari during the time when she reigned the stage used to take frequent dropouts from he stage life. She would vanish for some time and then suddenly reappear. By the time Mata Hari returned to the stage in 1908, she found numerous imitators on stage with her in the French capital.
There was a big revolution on the stage when Mata Hari returned. There were many naked dancers, some even better than her; cabaret dancers, and it became a learning experience for women that if a woman’s body was shown in the right manner, rather in a state of undressing, they could be admired very well. There was no room for Mata Hari on the stage. She complained to the press saying, “Two-and-a-half years ago I made my first appearance at a private performance at the Musee Gimet; ever since that memorable date ladies styling themselves ‘Eastern Dancers’ have sprung out of the ground and honor me with their imitations. I feel highly flattered with this mark of attention, if these ladies’ performances were accurate from a scientific and aesthetic point of view; but they are not.” But somehow Mata Hari had to survive. There was a controversy over her genuine talent and her ability to dance gracefully. In Vienna a reporter wrote, “I would have to lie if I say that the performance was more than that of a an amateur.” There was yet another negative criticism that she had kept secure in a book and it read, “The new art of the dance, which Mata Hari more feels than expresses, is still waiting for its great exponent. If she had not had the advantage of ‘Nude Publicity’, she would not have been a success.”
A fan dedicated a poem to her :
“It was since Duncan our first chance,
To see such an amazing dance,
For while Mata Hari showed leg galore,
And even a little-little more,
It did our eyes a lot of good
To watch her daintily stepping foot
And lovely head, which was set upon
An enticing body, with so little on,
And Mata Hari, dresses as before,
First lost one veil, then lost one more,
Till finally with little to hide,
She was ready to be Siva’s Bride
At which point she, like a girl of tender age,
She quickly stood up-and disappeared backstage,
Each person now was a Mata Hari fan,
But then appeared in fully dressed man,
Who said: “We’re turning off the light
Mata Hari will show no more tonight.”
Public still went mad to have a glimpse of this dancer. There were rumors in the air that her lack of training in dance techniques made it difficult to persuade her agent to secure contracts. In one incident, Serge Diaghilev, the director of the Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, was planning to have Mata Hari appear as a guest artist for the ballet program. He wanted to check Mata Hari’s talent before signing a contract. When Mata Hari heard this, she was angry and argued that her fame itself was sufficient proof that she could dance well. The company’s costume designer, Leon Bakst wanted to see her figure before designing a costume of ‘goddess’ for her. Mata Hari willingly stripped stark naked in front of him, but she was not asked to perform in any part of the ballet.
Gabriel Astruc had arranged for some programs for her in 1911, and 1912 at La Scala in Milan. Here she danced as Venus in the opera Bacchus and Gabrinus by Marenco. In her interviews with reporters, she used to exaggerate about her ancestry and made new statements to suit her current whims. One time she would be a Hindu Temple dancer, at another, a Javanese princess, and sometimes of royal Dutch descent.
A major chunk of her income was also spent on costumes, music and her extravagant lifestyle, but this was all possible only because she had rich and wealthy lovers. She had stables and horses, jewelry, a country residence in Neuilly, where she entertained her friends. Among the powerful and wealthy acquaintances were – Jules Cambon (French Ambassador to the court of Kaiser Wilhelm II), Colonel Baron Van Der Capellen (second of the regiment of Hussars), Henri Kapferer (director owner of Astra Corporation), Marquis De Beaufort (a great Zeppelin pilot of Europe) and the list goes on and on.
Throughout the period of glory and glamour, what she really longed for was a relationship with her daughter. She tried to establish correspondence with her but her letters were returned unopened. Her husband did not entertain any of her requests to let her see little Non. The desperate mother planned to kidnap Non from Velp, the city where Rudolph and Non MacLeod were then living, with the help of her servant named Anna Lintjens. Mata Hari asked Anna to travel to Velp and as the girl left school for the day Anna had to kidnap the girl. Anna did reach Non’s school and patiently waited for the last bell of the day to ring. Unfortunately, John also turned up to meet Non. He strictly asked Anna to go away. Anna made a last attempt to get to the girl by telling him that she was carrying a gift from Paris for the girl. John did not pay any attention and Anna had to return empty-handed.
It began with two instances relating to the coming of the World War I. It took place on Zeelandia, a ship that was taking Mata Hari from Holland to France via Vigo and Madrid. On board was a Dutchman called Henry Noedemaker, a British agent who took the liberty to search Mata Hari's cabin. She demanded an immediate public apology, but he denied, and out of anger Mata Hari slapped him so hard that blood came out of his mouth. Noedemaker committed suicide in 1921, and then there were rumors by his relatives saying that he died because he thought Mata Hari was shot as a result of the information he had given to the British.
Secondly, she met Captain Vladimir de Masloff, usually called "Vadim, and fell in love with him. He was 20 years younger to her. Dark-haired and long-nosed, he was a slender, handsome fellow. The reason of their mutual attachment could be their age difference. Mata Hari might have found satisfaction of her maternal instinct in looking after a young man of the age of her son, and the young soldier might have found it romantic and glamorous to fall in love with a famous dancer. Their love affair was interrupted when Masloff was ordered back to the front. There he suffered an injury, losing the sight in his left eye. She was deeply grieved to know of his injury and wished to do everything to help him out of his misery. He needed to be operated on his other eye as well. Fund was desperately required. Masloff was admitted in a military hospital near Vittel, a place in the war zone. She had to obtain special permission to enter the area, and for that she had to meet Georges Ladoux, an army captain in charge of organizing French counter espionage. Her motives were suspected when she sought permission to 'take the healing waters' at Vittel for treatment.
And there, unwittingly, she agreed to spy for French 'at a price'.
She did not want to deceive her lover, as she had to do with other men. She thought of collecting money initially and then stop the activity as they had enough to sustain themselves. After having sold everything she had, together with the money she would receive from France for information, she would be free to marry her lover and be 'the happiest woman in the world'. But her loyalty to France was questioned. She attempted to prove it by spying and be repaid with the money she now so desperately needed for her schemes.
It was believed that Mata Hari was instructed by Captain Ladoux of the French Intelligence, to convince the Germans that she disliked the French and most willingly would be glad to spy for Germans. She could have been accused of being a double agent but Mata Hari was willing to take the risk. Suspicion was in the air during those times. Everyone and anyone was suspected for being a spy. Many innocent people too fell victims to it. The axe landed on Mata Hari too. She was arrested under the charges of being a spy. Her prosecutor, Captain Bouchardon, described her as 'a woman whose facility of languages, innumerable connections, remarkable intelligence and innate or acquired immorality, all contributed to make her suspect'. But even after 15 years, Bouchardon could not give a perfect and positive explanation of the matters.
Paul Allard expressed the general consensus of opinion : "I have read everything that has been written about the
famous dancer-spy and I am just as far advanced as before. I still do not know what Mata Hari has done. In fact, nobody knows what Mata Hari has done ! Ask the average Frenchman, or even the more intelligent Frenchman what Mata Hari's crime was and you discover that he does not know. He is only convinced that she was guilty but does not know why." Allard however, found no tangible, absolute evidence of her guilt.
The British too then suspected her of spying, and it was a great embarrassment for Captain Ladoux when she openly admitted to Sir Basil Thomson that she was indeed spying for France. This made him angry and he made up his mind to teach her a lesson. In this process her private intimate acts were described as opportunities to leak the secrets of the state. Finally, she wrote a letter to the Netherlands legislation :
"I beg your Excellency to please intervene for me with the French government. The third war council has condemned me to death and it is nothing but a grave error. There are some outward appearances, but no acts and all my international connections are necessarily the results of my profession as a dancer, and nothing else. At this moment everything is wrongly explained and the most natural things are greatly exaggerated. Since I truly have not done any espionage in France, it is really terrible that I cannot defend myself."
She kept patience all the time, even in prison. In prison, she was not allowed to do anything, not even to talk to anyone. All she could do was read. She read Buddhist literature. There were stories of she dancing in the prison, nude, and insisting on baths in donkey milk. But finally when her fate was being sealed, she had no other choice but exclaim “Its impossible, it’s impossible”.
The time had finally come and Mata Hari was to be escorted to the place of execution, Mata Hari consoled Sister Leonide, a nun looking after her, saying, “Don’t be afraid sister, I know how to die”.
Dr Biznard reported that there were no tears and no desperation on he face except confusion as to the mentality of the French character that had allowed this. She refused to be blindfolded and also refused to be tied to a pole. Out of 12 shots fired on her, three got her and there lay her lifeless body that no one had come forward to claim. It was sent for dissection.
The finale was full of drama. On October 15, 1917, Mata Hari refused both blindfold and tether and blew a kiss to the firing squad before they pulled the trigger. Rumors say that one soldier, overcome by the idea that his rifle had fired the fatal bullet, fainted after the act ! Was she spying for the Germans or French ? The legend of the world’s most famous female spy lives on.
August 7, 1876
Birth of Margaretha Geertruida.
1895
Married to John MacLeod.
1897-1902
She lived with her husband and side by side also learnt the different arts.
1902
Returned to Europe.
1905
Separated from John and left for Paris.
1906
Her dancing became well known in Paris.
Got an apartment in Berlin from Herr Kepert.
1914
Spent more time in Belgium and Netherlands during World War I.
Came to be known as H.21 - a spy.
1916
Suspected and arrested under the charge of being a spy.
