Mata Hari: How a Housewife Became a Glamorous and Notorious Spy
Colorized photos breathe life into the legend. Was she innocent?
In the early morning hours of October 15, 1917, the woman known all over the world as Mata Hari was executed by a French firing squad, having been tried and convicted of espionage. There is much speculation among scholars as to whether or not she was guilty. Here, accompanied by vintage photos beautifully colorized by Russian artist Olga Shirnia, is her story.
Margaretha Geertruida Zelle (1876–1917) was born in in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, to Adam Zelle and his first wife Antje van der Meulen. She was the eldest of four children.
The Zelles were a well-to-do merchant-class family and Margaretha had a privileged childhood. But her fortune took a downturn when she was thirteen-years-old.
Her father went bankrupt and her parents divorced. Two years later, her mother died and her family fell apart.
Although her father remarried in 1893, Margaretha chose to live away from home, first with her godfather in Sneek and then with her uncle in The Hague. She had studied for…
