Mata Hari executed

Source: 1000and1.de

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle is brought before a French execution squad and shot to death in Vincennes near Paris on 15 October 1917. In July 1917 she had been arrested by the French, tried before a military court, and condemned to death. Prior to her execution, the Netherlands native, who had lived a number of years in Indonesia, began a successful career in Paris in 1905 as a dancer under the artistic names „Mata Hari“ (Malaysian for „eye of the dawn“) and „Lady MacLeod“. She came to know outstanding personalities from politics and society. As early as 1907 she made known her willingness to participate in espionage for the German Reich. During the outbreak of the First World War, Mata Hari betrayed many military secrets which had been entrusted to her by high-placed allied officers with whom she had maintained intimate relationships.