Born: Aug 7, 1876, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Died: Oct 15, 1917, Vincennes, near Paris, France
Mata Hari, professional name of Gertrud Margarete Zelle (1876-1917), was a Dutch courtesan and alleged spy during World War I (1914-1918). Born in Leeuwarden and educated in a convent, she married Campbell MacLeod, a British-born captain of the Dutch army, when she was 18 years old. The couple lived briefly on the island of Java, in what was then the Dutch East Indies, and were divorced a few years later. She settled in Paris, France, upon her return to Europe and shortly after 1900 began to perform erotic dances for private gatherings, giving herself the title of Javanese Dancer. In 1907, she allegedly became a spy for Germany, attending a school for espionage in Lörrach. As such, her liaisons with high-ranking Allied officers supposedly enabled her to obtain important military information. She was convicted of being a spy and was executed in October 1917 by the French.
