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| Sunday, 21 August 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Famous
trials that shook the world by Lionel Wijesiri Trial of Mata Hari
Margarete Gertrud Zelle, better known as Mata Hari, is regarded as one of the most infamous spies of the 20th century. However, some modern historians believe that Margarete wasn't a spy at all, but was duped and trapped by her "friends" as well as her enemies during World War I, to become a scapegoat. Yet her story embodies all the elements that make the best espionage cases so alluring to the human imagination. Born in Holland to a well-to-do Dutch shopkeeper and his Javanese wife, Margaretha's life was changed forever when her father went bankrupt. Abandoning the family to find work elsewhere, his wife also died shortly thereafter and Margarete and her three brothers were split up amongst relatives. Left to figure out how to survive on her own, she soon discovered that her exotic looks and blossoming sexuality were the keys to her survival. So when Rudolf MacLeod, a military captain based in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesian Islands), placed an ad, looking for a bride, Margaretha answered it. Despite their 21-year age difference, they were married on July 11, 1895 and followed it quickly with the birth of a son and a daughter. But Captain MacLeod was a hard-drinking serviceman who was also insanely jealous at the attention other officers paid to his wife, which made their union a rocky one. They managed to live together until 1902 in Java and Sumatra. Returning to Europe together, they thereafter separated, at which point Mata Hari took to dancing upon the Paris stage from 1905, initially as 'Lady MacLeod' and soon after as Mata Hari, the name she retained until her death. In early 1900s, everything 'oriental' was in vogue in Europe, and as Mata Hari had become familiar with the cultural and religious ceremonies of the Far East, she was able to incorporate foreign movements and symbols into her costumes and choreography. She gathered a loyal group of patrons from all over Europe and took many wealthy and socially elite lovers. Before long, Mata Hari had amassed a small fortune in exchange for her nude performances. Still unclear today are the circumstances around her alleged spying activities. One view is that at the start of World War I, Mata Hari joined the German Secret Service, after having been recruited by one of her lovers, Berlin's Chief of Police. She continued giving dance performances on stages in London, Paris, Antwerp, and Brussels as the war raged on, all the while secretly transmitting intelligence reports to Germany that she culled from various diplomat customers. Another view is that while in The Hague in 1916 she was offered cash by a German consul for information obtained on her next visit to France. Indeed, Mata Hari admitted she had passed old, outdated information to a German intelligence officer when later interrogated by the French intelligence service. Mata Hari herself claimed she had been paid to act as a French spy in Belgium (then occupied by German forces), although she had neglected to inform her French spymasters of her prior arrangement with the German consul. She was, it seemed a double agent, if not a very successful one. In spite of these controversies, one fact remains acceptable to all: that Mata Hari had a serious affair with a 25-year-old Russian pilot flying with the French Capt. Vadim Maslov, son of a Russian admiral. When Maslov was wounded in German boundary she asked permission to visit him in a forward hospital. To test her alleged allegiance to the Allies, French officials gave her permission in return for agreeing to spy on the Germans, including possibly the crown prince, whom she knew. She was to receive one million francs for her efforts. To carry out her assignment, Mata Hari travelled to Spain en route to neutral Holland, from where she could cross over into Germany to rendezvous with the crown prince. En route to Holland, her ship stopped over in Falmouth, England, where she was detained and interrogated. British officials warned her not to go to Germany and sent her back to Spain. There she met the German military Attache, Maj. Kalle, who was known to her and spent a few days with him. Mata Hari returned to Paris on January 4, 1917, and was arrested on February 13, 1917. Although French and British intelligence services suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her. Secret ink was found in her room - incriminating evidence in that period. She contended that it was part of her make-up. She admitted to taking money from Germans but claimed it was for love, not spying. In documents released by the English government, it was revealed that the MI5 - the British secret service agency - were keeping tabs on Mata Hari's whereabouts and activities, and twice brought her in for questioning. However, although she confessed to having a Dutch colonel as a lover who lived near The Hague, she admitted nothing else. In that same year, an intelligence report noted that she was being paid by the German Embassy and that she was "in relation with highly placed people and during her sojourn in France she made the acquaintance of many French and Belgian officers... She is suspected of having been to France on important missions for the Germans." And even though she swore she'd never supplied the information, and that all she really was a courtesan, she was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to face the firing squad. The sentence was carried out on October 15, 1917 in Vincennes near Paris. She was 41 when she died. To many she remains the unfortunate victim of a hysterical section of the French press and the public determined to root out evidence of a non-existent enemy within, a scapegoat attractive as much for her curious profession as for her crimes. Even today, the intrigue surrounding Mata Hari survives. Was she truly a spy? Did she acquire and sell secrets to the Germans? In October, 2001, the Mata Hari Foundation and Dutch lawyers representing her hometown filed a lawsuit in Paris asking for a new trial, claiming that she was the victim of a conspiracy. Lawyers cannot automatically file and appeal to clear her name because under French law this is a right reserved for family members. No relatives of the dancer are known to be alive. The appeal to the Ministry of Justice was the first step in a very lengthy legal process. |
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