Mata Hari: The Naked Spy

I have danced in Paris, Madrid,

Monte Carlo, Berlin, and Vienna.

I have performed for barons, ambassadors, and princes.

From the moment I introduced my Javanese dances,

my fate was sealed.

With every veil I threw off, my success rose.

Pretending to consider my dances very artistic,

thus praising my art, they came to see nudity.

I chose an Indian name. I became Mata Hari, Eye of the Day.

I received the protection of the richest men,

and I did not lack the skill to profit from that.

Realize that I have lived all my adult life as Mata Hari,

that I think and act as her.

I am a woman of the world, but I'm not a traitor.

I beg you to believe me.

I never committed a single act of espionage

against France, never.

I was born Margaretha Zelle, August 7th, 1876.

We lived in Leeuwarden, a small country town in Friesland,

which is in the northern part of the Netherlands.

My father's grandest moment

was being selected to be in the Mounted Guard of Honor

when King Willem III visited Leeuwarden.

Margaretha's father was a boastful man.

He liked to show off that he did well

and sometimes people called him mockingly, The Baron.

He was not a baron. He was just a hat maker.

He owned a store in the central street of Leeuwarden.

And he wanted to have more.

His daughter, Margaretha, was the apple of his eye.

He just loved this girl.

Margaretha heard her father invent things about his family,

his ancestors, his real life.

So she learned that a pleasant lie

is more rewarding than plain truth.

Margaretha was a spoiled child.

Her father gave her lavish gifts,

including a small carriage drawn by goats.

She was the most pretty girl in Leeuwarden.

She went to the best private school

that her father could find.

She learned what she would use all her life.

Languages, she learned German, French and English.

She would learn to ride, she just loved horses.

This is an enchanted childhood up to her 13th birthday,

when suddenly things became from bad to worse.

When Mata Hari was 13,

her father came upon hard times.

He went bankrupt. That was very shameful.

And subsequently the father left the family.

She had to quit school.

School was very expensive.

A year later, Margaretha's mother

died of tuberculosis.

On the day of her mother's death,

she would play piano all day long.

And that was shocking for the neighbors

because when you are in mourning, you don't play music.

She went to live with her godfather, Mr. Visser.

He did not know what to do with this teenager.

So he decided to send her to school

to become a school teacher for small children.

When Margaretha was studying to be a teacher,

she had this affair.

There were allegations that she was found

on the lap of Director Haanstra.

So that something was, yeah, going on.

The headmaster fell madly in love with

this young girl.

The scandal was huge.

This affair didn't affect Mr. Haanstra.

There were no consequences for him.

She was tainted by this affair, she had to leave.

She went to live with her uncle and aunt in The Hague.

So she spent her days

reading the classified advertisements

in the local newspaper.

Suddenly she came on something very interesting.

"Officer on home leave from Dutch East Indies

would like to meet a girl of pleasant character.

Object, matrimony."

So she answered this ad.

She had the wonderful idea to send a photo of her,

and on this photograph, she's absolutely breathtaking.

So he answered Margaretha.

They decided to meet in Amsterdam

in front of the Rijksmuseum.

Six days later they were engaged.

Rudolf MacLeod was 39 at the time.

He was an officer. He was not in very good health.

He has diabetes and he was alcoholic

and he was very bad tempered.

The only good thing we can say about him,

he still had some allure when he was in a uniform.

So this was a great chance for her

to become a decent, married woman.

We have incredible letters from Margaretha

to Rudolf MacLeod.

So audacious for the time.

Giving intimate details on their sexual life.

You ask me

if I'm longing to do crazy things.

Rather 10 times than only one.

I do not believe, either,

that all these pleasures can ever end.

She loved to make love

and he enjoyed her very much.

Rudolf and I were married July 11th, 1895,

in a civil ceremony, at the city hall in Amsterdam.

I was 19. He was 39.

Their life changed drastically.

They had no money because Rudolf's pension

was not very high.

I had not married to go without luxury,

and I was flirtatious and he did not like that.

I had inclinations that made it impossible

for a woman like me to be a good housewife.

I was not content at home.

I confess frankly, I wanted to live

like a colorful butterfly in the sun.

On January 30th, 1897, our son Norman was born.

Three months later, we boarded the Prinses Amalia

bound for the Dutch East Indies.

I was so glad to leave Amsterdam for a new life.

When they finally got to Java,

it was a total disappointment for Margaretha.

The first assignment was in the center of Java,

and there was nothing there except insects and heat.

She had this baby, of course,

and very quickly she was pregnant again.

On May 2nd, 1898,

our daughter Jeanne Louise was born.

We always called our daughter Non,

which is Malaysian for young girl.

Non was a beautiful child, with my dark hair and dark eyes.

Margaretha was really happy.

She had her two babies, of course,

but she was discharged of all duties of a mother.

For the first time, she felt free,

and she became very interested in the culture of Java.

She used to wear a sari, and she was learning how to dance.

She learns even a few words of Malaysian.

And nearly every night there was a ball or a party

and she was dancing with officers.

Rudolf wanted her to be beautiful

and quiet and servile.

She was beautiful, but she was definitely not quiet

and not servile,

and she did not enact the wifely role.

When it became obvious that he couldn't conquer her

or own her, he grew increasingly physically

and emotionally violent.

Rudolf is intolerable.

Meanwhile, the young lieutenants pursue me,

and are in love with me.

It's difficult for me to behave in a way

which will give my husband no cause for reproach.

Suddenly, this terrible thing happened, this tragedy.

Norman and Non became violently ill,

vomiting a terrible black liquid.

Over the course of a week, their condition worsened.

Rudolf stayed by Norman's bedside.

Slowly, little Norman's life ebbed away.

Non miraculously survived.

Rudolf was heartbroken.

You can only be moved by his grief.

And of course Margaretha was devastated too.

My lovely little Norman has died,

and I'm not in a state to write much about it.

The passing of my dear Norman

has taken everything out of me.

Norman died, and it's not clear

what is the cause of this death.

There were rumors that Rudolf, who was not very faithful,

gave syphilis to Margaretha and the children,

so they had to be treated, and the cure was very aggressive.

That could also be a cause

for the death of this little boy Norman.

It's a bundle of letters

written in the years 1902, 1903, 1904.

And in these letters, this is the real Margaretha Zelle.

It gave so much insight in the person she was

before she was famous.

In one of Margaretha's letters,

she discloses that she had syphilis

and that the whole family was treated for that.

She wants that to remain a secret

because that of course was very shameful.

She cares especially about her daughter Non,

because if people would know that she had had syphilis

and was treated for that, she would become unmarriable.

Dearest cousin Edward.

I would like to tell you something

that I do not wish to be for cousin Anna's ears.

When you have a moment alone with Rudolf,

just ask him the reason why his child

spent three months at the hospital, and had to undergo