Mata Hari, the Beautiful Spy

Mata Hari: if she lived today, she might well be a YouTube star. Born Margaretha Geertruide Zelle in 1876 in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden, she went on to forge a new identity for herself and became highly successful at selling that identity as a brand. The name “Mata Hari” still resonates to day. A hundred years after her death, it still evokes a unique combination of eroticism and espionage.