History seductive courtesan from the Netherlands, an exotic dancer, a great spy during World War excites the minds of his contemporaries and today. Mata Hari, grande scout, was immortalized in books and movies, the mystery of her role in the history of causing heated debate in the scientific world. The bright star by the name of Mata Hari left an indelible mark and became a legend thanks to the great quality and beauty fearless fatal temptress.

Young years

Mata Hari - the stage name of Margaretha Gertrude Selle (1876-1917). The girl was born in the Netherlands in the family hat shop owner and was the only daughter, the second child of four children. His father was able to make a profitable investment in the oil industry, because the family was wealthy enough to give children a decent education. Soon, however, his father went bankrupt and divorced mother Margaret, who died when she was only fifteen years old.

Father sent to Margareta godfather, where she taught kindergarten teacher profession. By the will of fate and circumstances of the girl he threw trained and ran to his uncle in The Hague. At eighteen, she married 38-year-old captain Rudolph MacLeod and moved with him to Indonesia. The marriage was a complete disappointment for the couple, but one after another they have a son and a daughter. Rudolph turned drunkard, a tyrant, he insulted his wife and lived openly with his mistress.

Margaret left her husband to another naval officer and began to study the Indonesian tradition by enrolling in a local dance studio. Rudolf has repeatedly returned to the family of his wife, but in a relationship to each other nothing has changed. The death of children, allegedly from complications of syphilis, which everyone in the family sick, completely destroyed the marriage, the divorce took place in 1903.

Birth of Mata Hari

For the first time his new stage name - Mata Hari, which translates from Indonesian as the "sun" (literally, "eye of the day"), Margaret mentions in one of his letters to relatives in the Netherlands in 1897. Left destitute, she moved to Paris, where he initially acted as a rider in the circus under the alias "Gresh Lady MacLeod."

Since 1905, it began its way into the story with a new name. Each performance of Mata Hari is a colorful mini-performance with elements of striptease, where in the late dancer numbers appeared before the audience in shock almost completely naked. The actress claimed to reproduce the sacred dances of the East, on the wave of interest in these countries in Europe, the dancer could not be overlooked.

Beauty face, stateliness figures honed dance moves, fascinating spectacle, inflame passion, it does not leave indifferent fans and Mata Hari was the high society courtesan. March 18, 1905 the French newspaper "La Presse" wrote: "Mata Hari affects you not only the movements of their legs, arms, eyes, lips. Unfettered clothes, Mata Hari affects the game of his body. " High-ranking military men, politicians, influential people in France, Germany and other countries have been in her bedroom. Expensive gifts that are showered dancer rich lovers, could not give her the financial freedom: Mata Hari Card passion absorbed all of its revenues.

Double Agent

When and where was recruited Margaret for the first time, the story is still silent. However, a German spy Mata Hari was long before the First World War. In 1916, the French intelligence had suspicions about her involvement in the German espionage. On hearing this, she was a brave girl of the French secret services, and offered them cooperation. The French have checked the information ascertained in its relation to the German intelligence and the verdict - the arrest of a double agent Mata Hari.

World history of espionage described in detail all the scenes with the help of intelligence seductress Mata Hari, this thick volume written memories of its curators and doling line in textbooks foreign intelligence. In order to obtain information for the intelligence services, the woman skillfully applied the secrets of seduction Secrets of Seduction: how to cast a spell on a man Turning it right in their male lovers. All the necessary confidential data it is mined in intimate encounters.

February 13th, 1917 at the door of her room at the Paris "Elise Palace" knock, police chief Priore showed her an arrest warrant on charges of espionage. Four months conducted a long investigation, all this time, Mata Hari was in prison, the Faubourg-Saint-Denis in Saint-Lazare. French security services have proven that "agent H-21", a dancer from the Netherlands, was a double agent, working for the exploration and Germany. July 25, 1917 the court sentenced Margareta Gertrude Selle to death. Mata Hari was shot at a military firing range in Vincennes on October 15, 1917. His death fearless beauty met with head held high: send a kiss twelve soldiers, his executioners, intrepid Mata Hari shouted: "I'm ready, gentlemen."

"Life after death

Mata Hari's body was not claimed by any of her relatives for burial, and therefore handed over to the local anatomical theater. The head of the intrepid spy embalmed in Paris Museum of Anatomy. However, in 2000, archivists discovered the loss of his head. According to historians, this loss could occur as early as 1954, when the museum changed the place of residence.

Most modern historians believe that the role of the extracted information, the great courtesan, greatly exaggerated. On the outcome of the judgment has been, most likely, the perverse facts Mata Hari links with influential people of the French political elite, the publicity that might harm the reputation of these figures.

However, in the history of this woman it came as a great seductress, cleverly mining information. Her vivid image of the intrepid spy fatal beauty and crashed into the memory of the people forever, and the names of more efficient intelligence and were only in the pages of secret documents.

In 1931 he was filmed the movie "Mata Hari" with the Nordic film star Greta Garbo in the lead role, the film remakes - in 1964 and 1985. In 2009 it was created the computer game "Mata Hari", based on the history of the legendary spy the beginning of the twentieth century. In 2009, Eugene Ginzburg put the musical of the same name in honor of the great dancers, the main role in which she performed the young singer and actress Teona Dolnikova.

Was Mata Hari happy woman, did she love someone for real? This can only guess. However, it quickly flashed a bright star in the stormy ocean of eternity, forever leaving a significant mark in the history and in the hearts of people.

Jeanne Pyatirikova