Who Was The Real Mata Hari?
100 years ago Mata Hari faced the firing squad as a convicted German spy. It was at precisely this moment the legend of Mata Hari, the seductive spy, was born.
Newly discovered documents cast doubt on her guilt and reveal startling truths about her life. Mata Hari was a self-made woman whose boldness and sexuality threatened the male establishment. Most of what we’ve known about her until now has largely been myth.
Mata Hari struggled as an abused wife and mother before escaping her husband and finding a way to survive on her own. She refused to be a victim, and rose above the traumas of her early life. Bucking the conservative conventions of her time, Mata Hari re-invented herself as an exotic dancer, courtesan and socialite. She graced the cover of Vogue, performed all over Europe and left a coterie of smitten admirers in her wake. Was she a dangerous spy or a victim entangled in a climate of blame and desperation as WWI dragged on?
Mata Hari was seeking sexual freedom, artistic expression and the right to control her own life – things that women today still strive for. In the end she paid dearly, and Mata Hari’s courage as she faced her death is as heart-rending today as it was in 1917.
Marijke Huisman, Dr., Associate Professor of History at Utrecht University, Netherlands sums it up, “Mata Hari’s lasting legacy is the idea that you are not bound by the life you are born into, you can choose your own biography, you can chase after your dreams, you can become whatever you want. She is the ultimate self-made woman.”
A spellbinding story of passion, lies and betrayal.
Paris Street Interviews, “Do You Know Mata Hari?”
