Who is Mata Hari?

Mata Hari, born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands (August 7, 1876) and passed away in Vincennes, France (October 15, 1917

Her real name was Margaretha Geertruida “Grietje” Zelle.

She was arrested, tried, and executed on the basis of intercepted messages regarding the activities of a German spy initially identified as H-21 and which authorities believed was Mata Hari’s code name. During her trial, she was charged for being responsible of the deaths of no less than fifty thousand soldiers.
She was only forty-one years old when she was executed by firing squad.

The French Minister of Defense reopened Mata Hari’s file in 1985 with the encouragement of biographer Russell Warren Howe. The file subsequently revealed that Mata Hari was innocent of all espionage charges made against her.

The Frisian Museum in her hometown features today a Mata Hari Room exhibit.