Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was born on August 7, 1876 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. She was the second oldest child and only girl of Adam Zelle and Antje van der Meulen among three other brothers. Her family nicknamed her “M’greet.” Today she is remembered as a beautiful woman who used her feminine ways to achieve whatever she wanted. Throughout her childhood, M’greet’s father owned a successful hat business. Owning that business allowed the Zelle family to live comfortably. M’greet was always a “daddy’s girl” up until the family went bankrupt when Adam Zelle’s business crashed. As a result of this disaster, the family sold most of their belongings and moved to a smaller house in a humble area of the Netherlands. At this time, M’greet’s father told her family he would be going to Amsterdam in pursuit of another successful investment. In reality, he left Antje to care for their four children alone. Antje was not fit for this task even though it was that that corresponded to a mother. She soon became depressed, which later caused her physical illnesses. Unfortunately, Antje died when M’greet was only fifteen years old in 1891. M’greet’s father returned for the funeral, but had no intention of taking over the custody…show more content… She went to Paris in 1905. About to start a new life, M’greet renamed herself with the name “Mata Hari,” meaning “eye of the day” in an Indonesian dialect. In France, Mata Hari thrived as an exotic dancer and the profession allowed her to travel to Spain, Monte Carlo, and Germany. Her audiences were fooled by Mata Hari’s claims of being Indian and of Hindu faith. She literally formulated a completely different background for herself, which was quite common for those involved in the entertainment industry. Starting her career as dancer as late as she did, Mata Hari’s professional life did not last long. The peak of her career lasted from 1905 to
