Mata Hari - Leeuwarden
Posted by: 
haxepaxe
N 53° 12.113 E 005° 47.921
31U E 686922 N 5898385
Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida 1917, a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was executed by firing squad for espionage during World War
Waymark Code: WM2A1D
Location: Friesland, Netherlands
Date Posted: 09/30/2007
Views: 96
Margaretha Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, Friesland in the Netherlands, to Adam Zelle, owner of a hat store, and Antje van der Meulen, both born and raised in Friesland. When she was 6, the family moved to Leiden. In 1891 her mother died and her father went bankrupt. At 18 Margaretha married a Dutch naval officer named Rudolf MacLeod in Amsterdam. They moved to Java and had two children. Their son died in 1899, possibly of complications relating to the treatment of syphilis contracted from his parents, though the family claimed he was poisoned by an irate servant. After moving back to the Netherlands, the couple divorced in 1903, with Rudolf retaining custody of his daughter, who died at the young age of 21, also possibly from complications relating to syphilis.
That year, Margaretha moved to Paris, where she performed as a circus horse rider and went by the name Lady MacLeod. Struggling to earn a living, she also worked as an artist's model.
In 1905, she began to win fame as an exotic Oriental-style dancer. It was then that she adopted the stage name Mata Hari, the Indonesian and Malay word for 'sun' (literally "Eye of the Day").
Promiscuous, flirtatious, and openly flaunting her body with a mystique that captivated both her audiences and the public, Mata Hari was an overnight success from the debut of her act at the Musée Guimet on March 13, 1905. (She was so successful that she became the long-time mistress of the millionaire Lyon industrialist Emile Etienne Guimet who founded the Museum.) She posed as a princess from Java of priestly Indian birth, pretending to have been initiated into the art of sacred Indian dance since childhood. In those days it was quite easy for someone possessing a flamboyant personality to invent a character, and present it as fact with a good chance of success due to the limits on telecommunications available at the time. She was photographed numerous times during this point in her career in either scant clothing, or nude. She brought this carefree provocative style to the stage in her act, which led to wide acclaim.
Although the explanations and claims made by her about her origins were total fiction, the act was spectacularly successful because it elevated exotic dance to a more respectable status, and so broke new ground in a style of entertainment for which Paris was later to become world famous. Her style and her free-willed attitude made her a very popular woman, as did her willingness to wear or perform in exotic and sexually explicit clothing. She posed for provocative photos, and mingled in wealthy circles.
Mata Hari was also a successful courtesan, and had relationships with many high-ranking military officers, politicians and others in influential positions in many countries, including France, Russia and Germany. She was not known for being remarkably beautiful, but her spirit was overflowing with eroticism.
In happier times prior to World War I, she had been generally viewed as an artist, a free-spirited bohemian, but as the times grew more grim she began to be seen by some as a wanton and promiscuous woman, and perhaps a dangerous seductress. Her relationships and liaisons with powerful men took her across international borders frequently, which eventually would lead to her downfall.
Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.