Retropod is sponsored by Tito's handmade vodka. Drink responsibly.

Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Matahari.

For the past 100 years, she has been revered as the ultimate Fem F fatale, the seductive, glamorous exotic dancer

who allegedly spied for the Germans during World War I. She was even executed glamorously.

According to legend, her final act was to blow a kiss to her firing squad.

Matahari's influence on pop culture was huge

and fueled by Greta Garbo's portrayal of her

in a 1931 film.

That film was repeatedly censored

for its risque scenes.

You come first before anything.

Before anything?

Yes.

So you can see where Madahari gets her reputation.

In reality, though,

Matahari had a much less glamorous life.

A trove of documents from her trial

and her personal letters that were recently found

paint a new picture of the infamous spy.

Not the Matahari of legend,

but the Matahari who was a mother who left an abusive marriage

...