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Mata Hari, born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, on August 7, 1876, was a professional dancer and mistress who allegedly became a spy for France during World War I. Suspected of being a double agent, she was executed in 1917. Paris in 1905 was the perfect time for Mata Hari's exotic looks and the "temple dance" she created by drawing on cultural and religious symbolism and that she had picked up in the Indies. With characteristic confidence, she seized the moment. She billed herself as a Hindu artist, draped in veils-which she artfully dropped from her body.