Mata Hari was a Dutch-born woman who, at age 18, moved to Indonesia, where she studied culture and dance. By the early 1900s, she had turned herself into the world's most famous exotic dancer, entertaining men on stages all around Europe prior to the outbreak of WWI. Not only did she perform exotic dances for men but she also became a mistress to some of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Europe at the time.
"This unusual behavior, particularly after the onset of World War I, also attracted French and German intelligence agents. Both countries commissioned Hari to spy on their behalf, although the French likely did so in an attempt to reveal her as a German double agent, Siegal writes. But while Hari did take a commission from German intelligence, she only delivered newspapers articles and gossip to them. Meanwhile, the one act of espionage she did for the French—which involved seducing a German officer in Madrid—did not succeed in gathering any new information.
In February 1917, French officials arrested Hari and charged her with espionage. Despite a lack of evidence, authorities turned the suspected scheming seductress into the perfect scapegoat for their country’s wartime defeats and condemned her to death by firing squad.
Now, during the centenary year of Hari’s execution, Siegel of the Washington Post reports that recently released documents relating to her trial, along with personal and family letters that have come into circulation, have largely exonerated her.
As an untrained recruitee, she never learned information of real value. Instead, as the records that have come to light show, Hari was a scapegoat, targeted because of her brazen promiscuity, exotic allure and defiance of societal norms of the day."
Source: Revisiting the Myth of Mata Hari
