Sam Waagenaar

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Waagenaar accompanies Queen Juliana of the Netherlands through his exhibition Women of Israel (1960)

Samuel "Sam" Waagenaar (born January 10, 1908 in Amsterdam , † April 16, 1997 in Blaricum ) was a Dutch photographer and author who was best known as the biographer of the dancer and alleged spy Mata Hari .

Life

Samuel Waagenaar was born in Amsterdam in 1908. From 1927 he worked in advertising for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Two years later he moved to the United States, where he subsequently worked primarily as a photographer. After MGM appointed him Head of Promotion and Public Relations for Europe in 1930, he moved to Paris six months later.

Waagenaar was involved in researching the 1930 film Mata Hari with Greta Garbo . Waagenaar was primarily interested in the person of Mata Hari at first, that she, like him, was born in the Netherlands. He traveled to the Netherlands, France, but also Germany and Great Britain for six months and spoke to contemporary witnesses there. His research results exceeded his wildest expectations. So he spoke to one of Mata Hari's brothers and other people close to her. Among other things, he received two scrapbooks from Mata Hari's former maid Anna Lintjens, in which Mata Hari had collected photos and press articles about himself and provided them with notes. These formed the basis for his later biography.

After sojourns in North Africa and Hollywood, Waagenaar left MGM in 1935 and returned to Paris, where he worked in the film and newspaper industries. He returned to the United States with his brother in 1939 and lived there until 1942. In the following year he appeared in several propaganda strips such as Die Henker , Five Graves to Cairo and Bloody Snow . He mostly played German soldiers in small supporting roles.

He then joined the US Army and completed a three-week espionage training course in Canada, in which the future Bond author Ian Fleming also took part. He then returned to Europe, where he stayed in London and Paris, among other places. He was an eyewitness to the liberation of Paris on August 25, 1944, which he also documented photographically.

As a correspondent for the International News Service (INS), he reported on the founding of the United Nations , the Nuremberg Trials and some liberated concentration camps. After leaving the INS in 1946, he moved to Rome and worked there as a freelance journalist.

In 1957, his first two illustrated books, Asia and Countries on the Red Sea, were published by Süddeutscher Verlag . The following year the illustrated books Kinderen know geen border , 1959 Women from Rome and 1960 The little Five with photos from Liechtenstein, San Marino, Monaco, the Vatican and Andorra followed.

In 1964 his most famous work was finally published, she called herself Mata Hari . For this biography, Waagenaar sifted through the old material from the 1930s and researched further details. The book is now considered the standard work on Mata Hari and has been reprinted several times. A second revised version appeared in 1976.

In 1992 Waagenaar moved from Rome back to the Netherlands and settled in Laren , where he lived in the Rosa Spier Huis . In 1997 he died in Blaricum.

Works (selection)

  • Mata Hari. Completely revised and expanded version, Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach, 1983, ISBN 3-404-61071-7
  • The Pope's Jews. Alcove Press, 1974
  • Il ghetto sul Tevere. Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1973
  • The little five. Bruna en Zoon, Utrecht, 1960
  • She called herself Mata Hari. Hamburg, v. Schröder, 1964
  • Countries on the Red Sea. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich, 1957
  • Asia. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich, 1957
  • Women of Israel. Schocken Books, 1961
  • Women of Rome. Rüschlikon-Zurich, A. Müller, 1961

Web links

Commons : Sam Waagenaar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Biography of Sam Waagenaar at nederlandsfotomuseum.nl, accessed on March 24, 2011
  2. ↑ a b Waagenaar: Mata Hari. The first true account of the legendary spy. Pp. 8-14
  3. ^ Waagenaar: Mata Hari. The first true account of the legendary spy. P. 15
personal data
SURNAME Waagenaar, Sam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waagenaar, Samuel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch photographer and author
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1997
Place of death Blaricum