Mata Hari

The Dutch dancer executed by France as a German spy in 1917

Overview

Margaretha Zelle, a Dutch exotic dancer who performed in Paris as Mata Hari, moved among senior officers of several nations during the First World War. French counterintelligence, citing intercepted German radio messages that referred to an agent designated H-21, arrested her in February 1917, and a military court convicted her of spying for Germany. She was executed by firing squad at Vincennes in October 1917. Historians debate how much useful intelligence she ever passed, and many regard her as a scapegoat for French military setbacks, though she had accepted German money.