From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mata Hari,
exotic dancer
and convicted
spy
, made her name synonymous with
femme fatale
during
World War I
.
Mata Hari
was the
stage name
of Margaretha Geertruida (Grietje) Zelle (7 August 1876,
Leeuwarden
,
The Netherlands
? 15 October 1917,
Vincennes
,
France
).
She was a
Dutch
-
Frisian
exotic dancer
and
spy
. She was
executed
by a
firing squad
of the French Army. French authorities thought she was a spy during
World War I
. Because she had relationships with both German and French
officers
, they thought she was a double agent (working for both sides). Her dossier (file) was released in 2017, a hundred years after her death.
German documents unsealed in the 1970s proved that Mata Hari was truly a German agent. In the autumn of 1915, she entered German service.
On the orders of section III B-Chief Walter Nicolai, she was instructed about her duties by Major Roepell during a stay in
Cologne
. Her direct handler was Captain Hoffmann, who gave her the code name H-21.
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