Editing Mata Hari (section)

== Espionage ==
[[File:Mata Hari, by Jacob Merkelbach.jpg|thumb|upright|Zelle photographed in Amsterdam, 1915]]

During World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral. As a Dutch subject, Zelle was thus able to cross national borders freely. To avoid the battlefields, she traveled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain, and her movements inevitably attracted attention. During the war, Zelle was involved in what was described as a very intense romantic-sexual relationship with Captain Vadim Maslov, a 23-year-old Russian Staff Captain of the 1st Special Infantry Regiment serving with the French, whom she called the love of her life.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357">{{cite book |last1=Polmer |first1=Norman |last2=Allen |first2=Thomas |year=1998 |title=Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage |place=New York |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0679425144 |page=357}}</ref> Maslov was part of the 50,000-strong [[Russian Expeditionary Force in France|Russian Expeditionary Force]] sent to the Western Front in the spring of 1916.<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Bz-h6IDlzeIC&q=vadim+maslov&pg=PA330 |last=Cockfield |first=Jamie H |year=1997 |title=With Snow on Their Boots: The Tragic Odyssey of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France During World War I |place= |publisher=St Martin's Press |isbn=978-0312173562}}</ref>

In April 1916, Maslov was wounded fighting in the ill-fated Nivelles Offensive to capture the German controlled fortified Brimont mountain range, losing his sight in his left eye, leading Zelle to ask for permission to visit her wounded lover at the hospital where he was staying near the front.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357"/>
As a citizen of a neutral country, Zelle would not normally be allowed near the front. Zelle was met by agents from the [[Deuxième Bureau]] who told her that she would be allowed to see Maslov if she agreed to spy for France.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357"/>

Before the war, Zelle had performed as Mata Hari several times before the [[Wilhelm, German Crown Prince|Crown Prince Wilhelm]], eldest son of [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Kaiser Wilhelm II]] and nominally a senior German general on the Western Front.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357"/> The Deuxième Bureau believed she could obtain information by seducing the Crown Prince for military secrets.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357"/> In fact, his involvement was minimal, and it was German government propaganda that promoted the image of the Crown Prince as a great warrior, the worthy successor to the [[Hohenzollern]] monarchs who had made Prussia strong and powerful.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wheeler-Bennett |first=John |year=1954 |title=The Nemesis of Power: The German Army In Politics 1918–1945 |place=London |publisher=St Martin's Press |isbn=978-1403918123 |pages=12–13}}</ref> They wanted to avoid publicizing that the man expected to be the next Kaiser was a playboy noted for womanizing, partying, and indulging in alcohol, who spent another portion of his time associating with [[far right-wing]] politicians, with the intent to have his father declared insane and deposed.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357"/>
[[File:Painting of Mata Hari by Isaac Israels.jpg|thumb|upright|Painting of Mata Hari by [[Isaac Israëls]], 1916]]
Unaware that the Crown Prince did not have much to do with the running of [[Army Group German Crown Prince|Army Group Crown Prince]] or the [[5th Army (German Empire)|5th Army]], the Deuxième Bureau offered Zelle 1 million francs if she could seduce him and provide France with good intelligence about German plans.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357"/> The fact that the Crown Prince had, before 1914, never commanded a unit larger than a regiment, and was now supposedly commanding both an army and an army group at the same time should have been a clue that his role in German decision-making was mostly nominal. Zelle's contact with the Deuxième Bureau was Captain [[Georges Ladoux]], who later emerged as one of her principal accusers.<ref name="Biography of Mata Hari"/>

In November 1916 she was traveling from [[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]] aboard the steamship {{USS|Zeelandia||2}}.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.friesmuseum.nl/collectie/een-greep-uit-de-collectie/mata-hari-het-mysterie/blog-mata-hari-hanneke-boonstra |title=Blog Mata Hari |publisher= Fries Museum |access-date=21 May 2023}}</ref> When the ship called at the British port of [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]] she was arrested and taken to London, where she was interrogated at length by Sir [[Basil Thomson]], assistant commissioner at [[New Scotland Yard]] in charge of counter-espionage. He gave an account of this in his 1922 book ''Queer People'', saying that she eventually admitted to working for the Deuxième Bureau. Initially detained in Canon Row police station, she was then released and stayed at the [[Savoy Hotel]]. A full transcript of the interview is in Britain's [[National Archives]] and was broadcast, with Mata Hari played by [[Eleanor Bron]], on the independent station [[LBC]] in 1980.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/lbc/index.php/segment/0105800279001 |publisher=British Universities Film & Video Council |title=The London Interrogations |access-date=12 October 2020}}</ref> It is unclear if she lied on this occasion, believing the story made her sound more intriguing, or if French authorities were using her in such a way but would not acknowledge her due to the embarrassment and international backlash it could cause.<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Yh4VCgAAQBAJ&q=mata+hari+french+authorities&pg=PA130 |last=Proctor |first=Tammy M |year=2006 |title=Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War |place=New York |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0814766941 |page=}}</ref>

In late 1916, Zelle traveled to Madrid, where she met the German military attaché Major Arnold Kalle and asked if he could arrange a meeting with the Crown Prince.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 358">{{cite book |last1=Polmer |first1=Norman |last2=Allen |first2=Thomas |year=1998 |title=Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage |place=New York |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0679425144 |page=358}}</ref> During this period, Zelle apparently offered to share French secrets with Germany in exchange for money, though whether this was because of greed or an attempt to set up a meeting with Crown Prince Wilhelm remains unclear.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 358"/>

In January 1917, Major Kalle transmitted radio messages to Berlin describing the helpful activities of a German spy code-named H-21, whose biography so closely matched Zelle's that it was obvious that Agent H-21 could be none other than Mata Hari.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 358"/> The Deuxième Bureau intercepted the messages and, from the information they contained, identified H-21 as Mata Hari. The messages were in a [[Code (cryptography)|code]] that German intelligence knew had already been [[Cryptanalysis|broken]] by the French, suggesting that the messages were contrived to have Zelle arrested by the French.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 358"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Howe |first=Russell Warren |year=1986 |title=Mata Hari: The True Story |place=New York |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Co |isbn=978-0396087175 |page=143}}</ref>

General [[Walter Nicolai]], the chief IC (intelligence officer) of the German Army, had grown very annoyed that Mata Hari had provided him with no intelligence worthy of the name, instead selling the Germans mere Paris gossip about the sex lives of French politicians and generals, and decided to terminate her employment by exposing her as a German spy to the French.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 394">{{cite book |last1=Polmer |first1=Norman |last2=Allen |first2=Thomas |year=1998 |title=Spy Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage |place=New York |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0679425144 |page=394}}</ref>

===Trial===
[[File:Mata Hari on the day of her arrest 13-2-1917.jpg|thumb|upright|Mata Hari on the day of her arrest]]
In December 1916, the Second Bureau of the French War Ministry let Mata Hari obtain the names of six Belgian agents. Five were suspected of submitting fake material and working for the Germans, while the sixth was suspected of being a double agent for Germany and France. Two weeks after Mata Hari had left Paris for a trip to Madrid, the Germans executed the double agent while the five others continued their operations. This development proved to the Second Bureau that Mata Hari had communicated the names of the six spies to the Germans.<ref>Waagenaar, 1965, p. 258</ref>

On 13 February 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her room at the Hotel Elysée Palace on the Champs Elysées in Paris. She was tried on 24 July, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her.

{{blockquote| A harlot? Yes, but a traitoress, never!|Phrase attributed to Mata Hari during the trial}}

Zelle's principal interrogator, who grilled her relentlessly, was Captain Pierre Bouchardon; he later prosecuted her at trial.<ref name="Biography of Mata Hari"/> Bouchardon established that much of the Mata Hari persona was invented. Far from being a Javanese princess, Zelle was Dutch, which he used as evidence of her dubious and dishonest character at her trial. Zelle admitted to Bouchardon that she had accepted 20,000 francs from a German diplomat and former lover as reimbursement for belongings taken from her by German authorities. Bouchardon claimed that this was, in fact, payment to her for spying for Germany. In the meantime, Ladoux had been preparing a case against his former agent by casting all of her activities in the worst possible light, going so far as to engage in evidence tampering.<ref name="Biography of Mata Hari"/>

===Scapegoat===
In 1917, France had been badly shaken by the [[French Army Mutinies|Great Mutinies]] of the French Army in the spring of 1917 following the failure of the [[Nivelle Offensive]] and massive strikes. France might have collapsed from war exhaustion. Having one German spy on whom everything that went wrong with the war could be blamed was convenient for the French government. Mata Hari seemed the perfect scapegoat. The case against her received maximum publicity in the French press and led to her importance being greatly exaggerated.<ref>{{cite web |last=Arbuckle |first=Alex |title=The Dramatic Tale of Mata Hari Dancer, courtesan, scapegoat, spy? |publisher=Retronaut |date=May 2016 |url= http://mashable.com/2016/04/01/mata-hari/#zA5Ty6j4ikqf|access-date=10 August 2016}}</ref> The Canadian historian [[Wesley Wark]] stated in a 2014 interview that Mata Hari was never an important spy but a scapegoat for French military failures that had nothing to do with her.  Wark stated: "They needed a scapegoat, and she was a notable target for scapegoating."<ref name="Edwards">{{cite news |last=Edwards |first=Peter |title=Condemned spy Mata Hari glib during final interrogation: MI5 files |newspaper=The Toronto Star |date=24 April 2014 |url= https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/04/24/condemned_spy_mata_hari_glib_during_final_interrogation_mi5_files.html |access-date=10 August 2016}}</ref> The British historian [[Julie Wheelwright]] stated: "She really did not pass on anything that you couldn't find in the local newspapers in Spain."<ref name="Edwards"/> Wheelwright described Zelle as "an independent woman, a divorcée, a citizen of a neutral country, a courtesan, and a dancer, which made her a perfect scapegoat for the French, who were then losing the war. She was ... held up as an example of what might happen if your morals were too loose."<ref name="Edwards"/>

Claiming her innocence, Zelle wrote letters to the Dutch Ambassador in Paris. "My international connections are due [to] my work as a dancer, nothing else&nbsp;.... Because I really did not spy, it is terrible that I cannot defend myself."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gahetna.nl/actueel/nieuws/2011/brieven-mata-hari |title=Brieven van Mata Hari (Letters of Mata Hari) |work=Dutch National Archives. Gahetna.nl |date=17 June 2011 |access-date=15 October 2011 |lang=nl}}</ref> The most terrible and heartbreaking moment for Mata Hari during the trial occurred when her lover Maslov—by now deeply embittered as a result of losing his eye in combat—declined to testify for her and told her that he did not care whether she was convicted.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cockfield |first=Jamie H |year=1997 |title=With Snow on Their Boots: The Tragic Odyssey of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France During World War I |place= |publisher=St Martin's Press |isbn=978-0312173562 |pages=330–31}}</ref> When Zelle learned that Maslov had abandoned her, she fainted.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cockfield |first=Jamie H |year=1997 |title=With Snow on Their Boots: The Tragic Odyssey of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France During World War I |place= |publisher=St Martin's Press |isbn=978-0312173562 |pages=331}}</ref>

Her defense counsel, veteran international lawyer {{ill|Édouard Clunet|qid=Q16335955}},<ref>{{cite book |last=Macedonio |first=Mauro |year=2017 |title=Mata Hari, a life through images' |place= |publisher=Tricase: Youcanprint |isbn=978-8892637818 |page=207}}</ref> faced impossible odds; he was denied permission to cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses or to examine his witnesses directly.<ref>{{Cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6qX2DAAAQBAJ&q=%C3%89douard+Clunet+mata+hari+examine+witnesses&pg=PA31 |last=Milton |first=Giles |year=2016 |title=When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin Robbed a Bank: History's Unknown Chapters |place= |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |isbn=978-1250078759 |page=}}</ref> Bouchardon used the fact that Zelle was a woman as evidence of her guilt, saying: "Without scruples, accustomed to making use of men, she is the type of woman who is born to be a spy."<ref name="Biography of Mata Hari"/> Zelle has often been portrayed as a femme fatale, the dangerous, seductive woman who uses her sexuality to manipulate men effortlessly, but others view her differently: in the words of the American historians Norman Polmer and Thomas Allen she was "naïve and easily duped", a victim of men rather than a victimizer.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 357"/>

Although news reports following her execution claimed she had admitted to spying for Germany, Mata Hari made no such admission. She maintained throughout her ordeal that she had never been a German spy. At her trial, Zelle vehemently insisted that her sympathies were with the Allies and declared her passionate love of France, her adopted homeland. In October 2001, documents released from the archives of [[MI5]] (British counter-intelligence) were used by a Dutch group, the Mata Hari Foundation, to ask the French government to exonerate Zelle as they argued that the MI5 files proved she was not guilty of the charges she was convicted of.<ref name=Jeffries/> A spokesperson from the Mata Hari Foundation argued that at most, Zelle was a low-level spy who provided no secrets to either side, stating: "We believe that there are sufficient doubts concerning the dossier of information that was used to convict her to warrant re-opening the case. Maybe she wasn't entirely innocent, but it seems clear she wasn't the master-spy whose information sent thousands of soldiers to their deaths, as has been claimed."<ref name=Jeffries/>

===Execution===
[[File:Margaretha Zelle voor de executie.jpg|thumb|Mugshot of Margaretha Zelle]]
Zelle was executed by a firing squad consisting of 12 French soldiers just before dawn on 15 October 1917. She was 41.<ref>{{cite news |last=Siegel |first=Rachel |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2017/10/15/new-picture-emerges-mata-hari-who-faced-firing-squad-years-ago/1LIx3r433WFzNRZ2KTHXuO/story.html |title=New picture emerges of Mata Hari, who faced firing squad 100 years ago |work=The Boston Globe |publisher=Washington Post |date=16 October 2017 |access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref> According to an eyewitness account by British reporter Henry Wales, she was not bound and refused a blindfold. She defiantly blew a kiss to the firing squad.<ref name="Polmer, Norman page 358"/>

A 1934 ''New Yorker'' article reported that at her execution, she wore "a neat Amazonian tailored suit, especially made for the occasion, and a pair of new white gloves",<ref>{{cite book |last=Flanner |first=Janet |year=1979 |title=Paris was Yesterday: 1925–1939 |place=New York |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-005068-4 |page=126}}</ref> though another account indicates she wore the same suit, low-cut blouse, and tricorn hat ensemble which had been picked out by her accusers for her to wear at trial, and which was still the only full, clean outfit which she had in prison.<ref name="Shipman 2007 450"/> Neither description matches photographic evidence. Wales recorded her death, saying that after the volley of shots rang out, "Slowly, inertly, she settled to her knees, her head up always, and without the slightest change of expression on her face. For the fraction of a second it seemed she tottered there, on her knees, gazing directly at those who had taken her life. Then she fell backward, bending at the waist, with her legs doubled up beneath her." A non-commissioned officer then walked up to her body, pulled out his revolver, and shot her in the head to make sure she was dead.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/matahari.htm |title=Execution of Mata Hari |work=Eyewitnesstohistory.com |date=19 October 1917 |access-date=15 October 2011}}</ref>

===Remains and 2017 French declassification===
{{Wikisource|Death Comes to Mata Hari}}

Mata Hari's body was not claimed by any family members and was accordingly used for medical study. Her head was embalmed and kept in the Museum of Anatomy in Paris. In 2000, archivists discovered that it had disappeared, possibly as early as 1954, according to curator Roger Saban, during the museum's relocation.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Rq2dCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 |last1=Donald |first1=Graeme |last2=Wiest |first2=Andrew |last3=Shepherd |first3=William |year=2013 |title=Sticklers, Sideburns and Bikinis: The military origins of everyday words and phrases |place=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1846033001 |page=200 |access-date=26 January 2017}}</ref> Her head remains missing.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-thomson/for-sale-beethovens-skull_b_427015.html |title=For Sale: Beethoven's Skull |first=Keith |last=Thomson |date=20 March 2010 |work=HuffPost |access-date=26 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://strangeremains.com/2015/07/23/the-heads-of-these-5-people-were-stolen-from-their-graves/ |title=5 historical figures whose heads have been stolen |work=Strange Remains |date=23 July 2015 |access-date=26 January 2017}}</ref> Records dated 1918 show that the museum also received the rest of the body, but none of the remains could later be accounted for.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=6MN3BgAAQBAJ&q=mata+hari+body+1918&pg=PT138 |last1=Johnson |first1=Anna |last2=Roberts |first2=Paul G |year=2015 |title=Style icons |volume=3 – Bombshells |place= |publisher=Fashion Industry Broadcast |isbn=978-1621544050}}</ref>

Mata Hari's sealed trial and other related documents, a total of 1,275 pages, were declassified by the French Army in 2017, one hundred years after her execution.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/arkotheque/visionneuse/visionneuse.php?arko=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#uielem_move=514.566650390625%2C73&uielem_islocked=0&uielem_zoom=33&uielem_brightness=0&uielem_contrast=0&uielem_isinverted=0&uielem_rotate=F |title=Zelle Margueritte Gertrude, 07-08-1876 |publisher=République Française Ministère des Armées |year=2017 |access-date=1 February 2020}}</ref>