Mata Hari

Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan and spy (1876-1917)

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Netherlands rank#66

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Fame68.2
Momentum6.1
Netherlands rank#66
Wikipedia149.1K

Lived 1876–1917, aged 41Netherlands

Netherlands

Wikipedia
80 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Netherlands
#66
Era
1876–1917
Aged 41

Summary

Updated 2026-09-07

A Dutch dancer executed by France in 1917 for spying—though the evidence was likely fabricated and she may have been innocent. Her name became shorthand for the seductive double agent, a myth more durable than the truth.

Biography

About

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was born in the Netherlands on 7 August 1876. She reinvented herself as Mata Hari, an exotic dancer and courtesan whose stage name meant "eye of the day" in Indonesian. During World War I, she was arrested and convicted of spying for Germany. On 15 October 1917, she faced a French firing squad. Later scholars argue the French Army needed a scapegoat, that the files against her were falsified, and that she was likely innocent. The image outlasted the woman: books and films still return to the figure of the beautiful dancer who may never have betrayed anyone at all.

Voice