SIERRA LEONE POSTAL AUTHORITY on 27 February 2017 issued a series of first day cover stamps and a mini sheetlet marking the 100th Memorial Anniversary of Mata Hari. Although these offset lithographs were authorised by the postal administration of Sierra Leone, the issue was not placed on sale in Sierra Leone, and was only distributed to the new issue trade by Sierra Leone's philatelic agent.
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod née Zelle (1876 – 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. Many people still believe she was innocent because the French Army needed a scapegoat for their losses in the war.
In 1917, France had been badly shaken by the Great Mutinies of the French Army in the spring of 1917 following the failure of the Nivelle Offensive together with a huge strike wave, and at the time many believed that France might simply collapse as a result of war exhaustion. In July 1917, a new government under Georges Clemenceau had come into power, utterly committed to winning the war. In this context, having one German spy on whom everything that went wrong with the war so far could be blamed was most convenient for the French government, making Mata Hari the perfect scapegoat, which explains why the case against her received maximum publicity in the French press, and led to her importance in the war being greatly exaggerated.
Zelle wrote several letters to the Dutch Ambassador in Paris, claiming her innocence. "My international connections are due of my work as a dancer, nothing else .... Because I really did not spy, it is terrible that I cannot defend myself."
Canadian historian Wesley Wark stated in a 2014 interview that Mata Hari was never an important spy and just made a scapegoat for French military failures which she had nothing to do with, stating: "They needed a scapegoat and she was a notable target for scapegoating."
Likewise, British historian Julie Wheelwright stated: "She really did not pass on anything that you couldn’t find in the local newspapers in Spain." Wheelwright went on to describe Zelle as "... an independent woman, a divorcee, a citizen of a neutral country, a courtesan and a dancer, which made her a perfect scapegoat for the French, who were then losing the war. She was kind of held up as an example of what might happen if your morals were too loose.”
She was put on trial on 24 July 1917, accused of spying for Germany, and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her. Ultimately she was executed by firing squad in France. Mata Hari's sealed trial and related other documents, a total of 1,275 pages, were declassified by the French Army in 2017, one hundred years after her execution.
In 1917, France had been badly shaken by the Great Mutinies of the French Army in the spring of 1917 following the failure of the Nivelle Offensive together with a huge strike wave, and at the time many believed that France might simply collapse as a result of war exhaustion. In July 1917, a new government under Georges Clemenceau had come into power, utterly committed to winning the war. In this context, having one German spy on whom everything that went wrong with the war so far could be blamed was most convenient for the French government, making Mata Hari the perfect scapegoat, which explains why the case against her received maximum publicity in the French press, and led to her importance in the war being greatly exaggerated.
Zelle wrote several letters to the Dutch Ambassador in Paris, claiming her innocence. "My international connections are due of my work as a dancer, nothing else .... Because I really did not spy, it is terrible that I cannot defend myself."
Canadian historian Wesley Wark stated in a 2014 interview that Mata Hari was never an important spy and just made a scapegoat for French military failures which she had nothing to do with, stating: "They needed a scapegoat and she was a notable target for scapegoating."
Likewise, British historian Julie Wheelwright stated: "She really did not pass on anything that you couldn’t find in the local newspapers in Spain." Wheelwright went on to describe Zelle as "... an independent woman, a divorcee, a citizen of a neutral country, a courtesan and a dancer, which made her a perfect scapegoat for the French, who were then losing the war. She was kind of held up as an example of what might happen if your morals were too loose.”
She was put on trial on 24 July 1917, accused of spying for Germany, and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. Although the French and British intelligence suspected her of spying for Germany, neither could produce definite evidence against her. Ultimately she was executed by firing squad in France. Mata Hari's sealed trial and related other documents, a total of 1,275 pages, were declassified by the French Army in 2017, one hundred years after her execution.
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