He worked for the Germans during the First World War. The Dutch real name of Mata Hari is Margaretha Geetruide Zelle.
She is the daughter of a Dutch businessman and was educated in a convent at school age. At the age of 18, she married a Scottish-born officer in the Dutch army. Due to her husband's duty, she stayed in Amsterdam for a while and in Java for a while. On her return to the Netherlands, she separated from her husband and settled in Paris. She started dancing here and soon became famous. Her fame spread to important European cities such as Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin, and Rome. She established close relations with important people who served in the governments of the states concerned.
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by firing squad in France. The idea of a beautiful exotic dancer using her powers of seduction as a spy made her name synonymous with the femme fatale. Her story has served as an inspiration for many books, films, and other works.
Taking advantage of this situation of Mata Hari, the Germans called him to Germany and took him to the German Secret Service. A few years before the First World War, she studied espionage at the German Espionage School in Lörrach, Germany. Meanwhile, she also established a close relationship with the Berlin police chief. Mata Hari, whose code number was H21 in the German Secret Service, returned to France in 1915. Although the French Secret Service knew that Mata Hari was a spy working for the Germans, they could not intervene. Mata Hari had close contact with influential people in both the French and Dutch governments. However, she was able to deftly evade the traps that had been prepared for her.
He was sending top-secret military information, collected from French, British, and Russian officers and statesmen, to the Germans from Paris by special diplomatic courier, in the form of innocent letters written to her daughter. She was arrested on February 13, 1917, after returning to Paris from Madrid, where she attended meetings with the heads of the German military and naval intelligence. The most important of the documents collected about him for years was the telegram he sent from the Madrid embassy to the German military center with her own code (H21) during her last trip to Madrid and was captured on the way. The check for 15,000 Spanish pesos, which he would receive upon her return from Madrid, was withheld from him. Another piece of evidence was the 30,000 Mark promissory note he received from the German Secret Service before returning to France in 1915. The court's accusation about the money in question; "I bought a gift." Mata Hari was sentenced to death and executed on October 15, 1917, although the court could not find strong evidence.
Mata Hari, who was very calm on the way to death; "What will these French gain by killing me, will they win the war?" he said to those next to him. He showed unexpected courage and composure by not blindfolding while being shot.