today’s birthday: Mata Hari (1876)

Mata Hari (1876)

Born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, this Dutch courtesan, dancer, and alleged spy went by the stage name Mata Hari. During World War I, she had intimate relationships with high-ranking Allied military officers and government officials. Though details are unclear, she apparently spied for Germany from 1916. In January 1917, French intelligence intercepted German messages about a spy they identified as Mata Hari, and she was executed by the French on espionage charges. What happened to her corpse?

3 responses to “today’s birthday: Mata Hari (1876)

  1. She was given over to become a zombie 😉

    It’s odd how one of the most known about people in World War I was a spy for the Germans and summarily executed. It’s the same as a lot of the people known about in both World Wars, they were people who were executed for some reason or died.

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