On this day in 1917, the exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed by a French firing squad at Vincennes, outside of Paris, for the crime of espionage.
Born Margueretha Gertruida Zelle in a small town in northern Holland and formerly married to a captain in the Dutch army, Mata Hari had performed in Paris as a dancer since 1903. She adopted an elaborate stage persona, claiming she was born in a sacred Indian temple and taught ancient Indian dances by a priestess who gave her the name Mata Hari, which meant "eye of the dawn." Her exotic dances soon earned her fans all over Europe, where she packed dance halls from Moscow to Berlin to Madrid, largely because of her willingness to dance almost entirely naked in public.
A courtesan as well as a dancer, Mata Hari amassed an impressive catalog of lovers, including high-ranking military officers and political figures from both France and Germany.
Read more at: www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mata-hari-is-executed
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