Primary+Sources+Mata+Hari

Source one:
Mata Hari wearing a Javanese inspired costume. This picture shows Mata Hari, lying down on what appears to be some sort of rug; we can see the sort of clothing she wore, a long skirt and bra, with a lot of expensive jewellery and headgear. The embroidery and detail on her clothing would have been expensive as well, so we can assume she was making a lot of money from her dances. From this point of view her life would have seemed luxury that she was making so much money, adored by fans and customers, life would have been great. But in turn, her life was pretty tragic; she had a lot of horrors in her past. Mata Hari certainly had a very expensive and exciting lifestyle, but Margaretha had a lot of haunts form when her son died, to her being beaten on a regular basis by her drunken husband.

Source two:
// Henry Wales was a British reporter who covered the execution. We join his story as Mata Hari is awakened in the early morning of October 15. She had made a direct appeal to the French president for clemency and was expectantly awaiting his reply: // "The first intimation she received that her plea had been denied was when she was led at daybreak from her cell in the Saint-Lazare prison to a waiting automobile and then rushed to the barracks where the firing squad awaited her.   Never once had the iron will of the beautiful woman failed her. Father Arbaux, accompanied by two sisters of charity, Captain Bouchardon, and Maitre Clunet, her lawyer, entered her cell, where she was still sleeping - a calm, untroubled sleep, it was remarked by the turnkeys and trusties.    The sisters gently shook her. She arose and was told that her hour had come.    'May I write two letters?' was all she asked.    Consent was given immediately by Captain Bouchardon, and pen, ink, paper, and envelopes were given to her.    She seated herself at the edge of the bed and wrote the letters with feverish haste. She handed them over to the custody of her lawyer. Then she drew on her stockings, black, silken, filmy things, grotesque in the circumstances. She placed her high-heeled slippers on her feet and tied the silken ribbons over her insteps. She arose and took the long black velvet cloak, edged around the bottom with fur and with a huge square fur collar hanging down the back, from a hook over the head of her bed. She placed this cloak over the heavy silk kimono which she had been wearing over her nightdress. Her wealth of black hair was still coiled about her head in braids. She put on a large, flapping black felt hat with a black silk ribbon and bow. Slowly and indifferently, it seemed, she pulled on a pair of black kid gloves. Then she said calmly: 'I am ready.' The party slowly filed out of her cell to the waiting automobile. The car sped through the heart of the sleeping city. It was scarcely half-past five in the morning and the sun was not yet fully up. Clear across Paris the car whirled to the Caserne de Vincennes, the barracks of the old fort which the Germans stormed in 1870. The troops were already drawn up for the execution. The twelve Zouaves, forming the firing squad, stood in line, their rifles at ease. A subofficer stood behind them, sword drawn. The automobile stopped, and the party descended, Mata Hari last. The party walked straight to the spot, where a little hummock of earth reared itself seven or eight feet high and afforded a background for such bullets as might miss the human target. As Father Arbaux spoke with the condemned woman, a French officer approached, carrying a white cloth. 'The blindfold,' he whispered to the nuns who stood there and handed it to them. 'Must I wear that?' asked Mata Hari, turning to her lawyer, as her eyes glimpsed the blindfold. Maitre Clunet turned interrogatively to the French officer. 'If Madame prefers not, it makes no difference,' replied the officer, hurriedly turning away. .   Mata Hari was not bound and she was not blindfolded. She stood gazing steadfastly at her executioners, when the priest, the nuns, and her lawyer stepped away from her. The officer in command of the firing squad, who had been watching his men like a hawk that none might examine his rifle and try to find out whether he was destined to fire the blank cartridge which was in the breech of one rifle, seemed relieved that the business would soon be over. A sharp, crackling command and the file of twelve men assumed rigid positions at attention. Another command, and their rifles were at their shoulders; each man gazed down his barrel at the breast of the women which was the target. She did not move a muscle. The underofficer in charge had moved to a position where from the corners of their eyes they could see him. His sword was extended in the air. It dropped. The sun - by this time up - flashed on the burnished blade as it described an arc in falling. Simultaneously the sound of the volley rang out. Flame and a tiny puff of greyish smoke issued from the muzzle of each rifle. Automatically the men dropped their arms. At the report Mata Hari fell. She did not die as actors and moving picture stars would have us believe that people die when they are shot. She did not throw up her hands nor did she plunge straight forward or straight back. Instead she seemed to collapse. Slowly, inertly, she settled to her knees, her head up always, and without the slightest change of expression on her face. For the fraction of a second it seemed she tottered there, on her knees, gazing directly at those who had taken her life. Then she fell backward, bending at the waist, with her legs doubled up beneath her. She lay prone, motionless, with her face turned towards the sky. A non-commissioned officer, who accompanied a lieutenant, drew his revolver from the big, black holster strapped about his waist. Bending over, he placed the muzzle of the revolver almost - but not quite - against the left temple of the spy. He pulled the trigger, and the bullet tore into the brain of the woman. Mata Hari was surely dead."  ** References: ** Henry Wales' account was originally published in newspapers through the International News Service on Oct. 19, 1917, republished in Carey, John, Eyewitness to History (1987); Howe, Russell Warren, Mata Hari: The True Story (1986).  This is an eye witness account of Mata Hari’s death. We can see form this account how brave and calm she was, not once did she protest, she just gave in, and knowing that was it, there was no point in fighting. She was polite in asking if she may write two letters. From this source we can see that she was a brave, kind spirited woman with a courteous manner. This is her legacy that she didn’t have a blindfold on, she wore her best clothes she had for death, and she wasn’t even bound down. Margaretha Zelle died elegantly, ‘standing’ tall and had her head high, a proud woman who was not afraid of death. From this particular perspective we see a valiant, strong willed woman, who will change history forever, who knew in that particular time a woman was capable of all these things. Some people jump to conclusions when they hear about her story, that she was a stripper and nothing else, Mata Hari was brainwashed, and she slept around too much and therefore was a ‘harlot’. But all they’re doing is judging a book by its cover, as this source implies there was more to Margaretha than an exotic dancer.

Source three:


A younger Mata Hari This photo suggests innocence, the roses and plaits, and the Nun like veil she is wearing suggests this is before, or just at the beginning of her newly found ambition. We can see that she had some sort of normality before things started to go wrong in her life, that she too, was once a young girl/adult. We can tell that she was pretty, but not overwhelmingly beautiful, and you can see the charm so many devoted fans fell for. Whilst some still linger on the word floozy, this photo suggest a different time before she turned to exotic dancing, even if it was taken during the time she was one. That Margaretha didn’t spend her days luring men into the bedroom for cash. She did actually have a normal life outside her job, and that she still was a respectful woman.