Mata Hari AKA Margaretha Geertruida
The wars most renowned women spy of the time. Many say she was naïve and easily duped and trapped by her enemies. When Margaretha Geertruid, known at the time, was 18, she married a Dutch naval officer who was 20 years older then she was. They soon moved to the Dutch East Indies and had two children, they then divorced in 1906. She moved to Paris in 1905, assuming the name Mata Hari, which translates into Eye of Dawn, and the personality of a Javanese princess. She was in love with a 25 year-old Russian pilot, which flew for the French; his name was Capt. Vadim Maslov. Once he got injured she asked to see him. The only condition was to work as an agent and spy on the Germans, especially the ruler of Germany. Mata Hari traveled to Spain to get to neutral Holland, once she reached their she could cross over into Germany to meet up with the crown prince of Germany. On her way to Holland, her ship stopped in Falmouth, England, where she was detained and interrogated. British officials told her not to go to Germany and sent her back to Spain. Later once she returned to France she admitted to taking money from Germans but stated, “it was for love, not spying.” Still, she was tried by a closed court-martial, found guilty, and executed by a French firing squad on October 15, 1917.