Spies, Espionage, and Covert Operations: From Ancient Greece to the Cold War by Rank Michael

Author:Rank, Michael [Rank, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Five Minute Books
Published: 2014-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

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apter 7

Mata Hari (1876-1917)

World War One's Sweetest Honeypot

Mata Hari was one of the most infamous spies of World War I. She is believed to be responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of French soldiers up to her capture, conviction, and execution by firing squad. Her career as an exotic dancer and courtesan of high-level officials for both France and Germany during the Great War make her story a fascinating combination of sex, espionage, and danger. After her death, her stage name, “Mata Hari,” became synonymous with spying, intrigue, and sexuality.

Yet many historians consider that despite her posthumous fame, she was an incompetent spy who failed to produce intelligence of any significant value. Although she delighted in cavorting with the rich and powerful and carried on numerous affairs with prominent men in the final years of Belle Epoque Europe, the intelligence community of her time believed that she operated in a venue far out of her league and did not understand the effects of her duplicitous activities. She might have been able to charm her way to the top of the exotic dancers' profession, and into the bed chambers of prominent officials, but these skills did not translate well into espionage. In the years after her death, the German government said that her contributions to its war effort were insubstantial.

Nevertheless, her name later became a byword for the honeypot or honey trap that coaxes secrets from her lovers. She was the template for honey traps that became a mainstay in the Cold War, when American and Russian vixens wrested nuclear secrets and military intelligence from lonely scientists and army officers. The New York Times wrote of her execution, describing her as “a woman of great attractiveness and with a romantic history.” Many films and biographies were spawned in the wake of her death, most famously the 1931 film Mata Hari , which starred Greta Garbo as the eponymous figure and Ramon Novarro as Lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff.

Mata Hari was born as Margaretha Geertruida Zelle (nicknamed M’greet) on August 7, 1876, to Adam Zelle and Antje van der Meulen. They were Frisian minority members from the Netherlands, and she was the oldest of four children. Her father was a hat maker who made a number of prudent investments in the oil industry, leading to significant wealth. Adam freely indulged his “little princess”; on her sixth birthday he presented Margaretha with a miniature carriage pulled by two goats. She became spoiled and vain, with what some biographers, indulging in a bit of Freudian analysis, say created a longing for male attention. When she was 13 her father declared bankruptcy due to downturns in the stock market. The family sold most of its furniture and relocated to a poorer section of the city. In an effort to improve their fortunes, Adam moved to Amsterdam, leaving behind his four children.

Zelle's mother became depressed and physically ill. At 15 her mother died. Her father returned for the funeral but did not come for his children. Rather, he spread them among relatives willing to house them.

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