Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod (Zelle)
(August 7, 1876 – October 15, 1917)

(Fox News) – Extremely rare letters from infamous World War I spy Mata
Hari to her lover have been sold for $15,000 at a Los Angeles auction.

Born Margaretha Zelle in the Netherlands in 1876, the courtesan and
exotic dancer was better known by her stage name of Mata Hari. She
was recruited by France to spy on Germany during World War I, and
was later accused of being a German double agent. 

Arrested in Paris on Feb. 13, 1917, she was put on trial on July 24 of
that year, charged with spying for Germany and causing the deaths
of at least 50,000 soldiers. Convicted, she was executed by a French
firing squad on Oct. 15, 1917. Some historians, however, think that
she was a scapegoat and her execution was used as a distraction
from the devastating losses France suffered during the war.