Memories About Solar Execution, Women's Eyes The Greatest During World War I

Mata Hari posed as a dancer in Paris at his heyday. (BBC/Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

JAKARTA This is a controversial story about Margaretha Geetruida MacLeod, a dancer whose name is the Matahari stage. During World War I, Mata Hari was so famous. Not only beautiful and sexy, she was also touted as The Greatest Woman Spy, The Greatest Women's Eye. Until finally she was arrested, sentenced to death, and executed by a French firing squad on the outskirts of Paris on October 15, 1917.

Ten years before Mata Hari was shot dead, he came into contact with many important figures in Europe. Thanks to his charm he was able to attract lovers from various professions and positions, from ministers, wealthy businessmen, to high-ranking military officials.

But when World War 1 started to flare up in Europe on July 28, 1914, Mata Hari lovers from high-ranking officials wanted more than just sexual intercourse. They expect information from the opposing party, who is also in contact with Mata Hari.

Born in the name Margaretha Geetruida Zelle in Leeuwarden, Netherlands on August 7, 1876, Mata Hari's life is both glamorous and tragic. He married a Dutch military officer of Scottish descent, Captain Rudolf Macleod and lived in Malang, East Java in 1897.

The couple divorced. Mata Hari returned to Europe in 1903, living in Paris and embarking on her adventures as an erotic dancer. According to the records of a Freis Museum curator in Leeuwarden, Hans Groeneweg, Mata Hari actually has a good career as a dancer. She is very famous, even often compared to an American actress who became a symbol of sex in the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe.

A little more he created as a form of dance. We showed off the evidence of his performances and there were piles of newspaper clips along with photos. At that time he was a socialite celebrity," Groeneweg was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"Even if he wasn't a spy, Mata Hari would be remembered for what he did as a dancer in big European cities until the beginning of the century," Groeneweg continued.

Mata Hari is considered a great artist, for successfully lifting an erotic dance to occupy an honorable place. What he has ever done is a way for a new style of entertainment in Europe. And it also contributed to making Paris a very famous city in the world.

The tragic story of Mata Hari begins when he is involved in espionage matters. The Netherlands at that time occupied a neutral position, not defending the Allies (UK, France, Russia) or the Central Block (Germany, Austria-Hongary, Italy). The Dutch neutrality allowed Mata Hari to freely enter the countries that were at odds.

Quoted from the book With Snow on Their Boots: The Tragic Odyssey of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France During World War I by Jamie H. Cockfield (1998), Malang Mata Hari began when his 23-year-old girlfriend, Captain Vadim Maslov, was shot by German troops in 1916.

Prior to dating Maslov, Mata Hari also had an affair with Crown Prince Wilhelm, a general who is the son of the German Emperor, Wilhelm II. The Allies then lured Mata Hari to meet his girlfriend, Captain Vadim Maslov if he was willing to provide information on the strength of Germany and his alliance.

France hopes to get legal information, but on the contrary get nothing. Likewise, the German who was faced with getting leaks of the strength of the opposing party, but the result was zero too. Mata Hari was then deemed only intending to dredge money by utilizing its relationship with Allied figures and the Central Block.

Germany's annoyance was vented by exposing his identity as a German spy code H-21 to France. Mata Hari was arrested at the Elysee Palace Hotel, Paris on February 13, 1917. He was accused of being a double agent, resulting in the death of 50,000 Allied troops. Matahari was tried on July 24, 1917.

According to a French interogator, Captain Pierre Bouchardon, Mata Hari received at least 20 thousand francs from a German diplomat to provide information on the strength of Allied forces. But all these allegations could never be proven.

"I'm a prostitute, yes! But a traitor, not at all!" those words were spoken by Mata Hari in his trial.

But defense remains a defense. Matahari remains guilty and sentenced to death. One morning a vehicle out of Saint-Lazare Prison in Paris, brought Mata Hari to be executed before 12 members of France's firing squad on October 15, 1917.