in Madrid, Arnold von Kalle, with whom she exchanged pieces
of information. What she obtained from Kalle was communicated
to Ladoux in Paris, while Kalle sent her observations to his supe-
riors. Another romantic affair developed with the French military
attaché in Madrid, Joseph Denvignes, whom she alerted regarding
Kalle’s undercover work. Unknown to Mata Hari, however, was a
second French double agent in Madrid, Marthe Richer (alias Marthe
Richard, or Agent H 32 on the German list). On assignment from
Ladoux, she targeted the German naval attaché Hans von Kroch
and obtained high-level intelligence—including the code used by
Kalle to communicate with Cramer in The Hague. The Deuxième
Bureau soon had concrete proof that Mata Hari was on the payroll
of the Germans.
A further complication occurred when Mata Hari was detained
by British authorities in Falmouth en route from Madrid to Am-
sterdam. As she matched the general description of the German spy
Clara Bendix, it was only with difficulty that “Mrs. Zelle MacLeod”
managed to convince them of her true identity. Yet when Scotland
Yard tried to confirm her contention of being a French spy, Ledoux
not only denied any connection but named her as a German agent.
Forced to return to Madrid and then lured back to Paris, she was
arrested on 13 February 1917. To be accused of “intelligence co-
operation with the enemy” came at a highly unpropitious moment,
for in light of France’s worsening military and economic situation,
rumors had started to circulate that a conspiracy from abroad was
the ultimate reason. Moreover, Mata Hari’s own naiveté—combined
with the inadequate legal representation by a former lover, Edouard
Clunet—weakened her position considerably.
Unpersuaded by her protestations of innocence—that her contacts
with German officers had occurred only in a romantic context and
that any information conveyed had been strategically worthless—the
six-member military tribunal found Mata Hari guilty of espionage.
She died on 15 October 1917 before a firing squad at the Vincennes
fortress outside Paris, and her unclaimed body was taken to an ana-
tomical laboratory for students. Despite the prosecution’s assertion
that her work as a German agent resulted in “indescribable damage”
to the French military, most authorities have concluded that her activ-
ity had no discernible impact on the course of the war.290 • MATA HARI