Portrait of Dutch-born German World War I spy Mata Hari, c. 1915. After the break-up of her marriage to a Dutch army officer, she became a dancer in Paris where she adopted the stage name of Mata Hari (meaning ‘eye of the day’ in Malay). During World War I she gave Allied secrets to the Germans, and was shot as a spy by the French, although the exact facts about her espionage activities still remain uncertain.