#4 Trial Records of Mata Hari
Opened in: 1985
Mata Hari was the stage name of a highly successful Dutch exotic dancer, Gertrud Margarete Zelle. Because of her profession, she had many cross-border associations. During World War 1, the French Government convinced her to travel to neutral Spain. There she could develop relationships with the German navy and army and report any intelligence back to Paris. There are different accounts for reasons why she was accused of being a double spy. Several sources claim that, in January 1917, the German military transmitted a radio message to Berlin describing the helpful activities of a German spy, code-named H-21. French intelligence agents intercepted the messages and identified H-21 as Mata Hari. What makes this even more interesting is that the messages are said to be in a code that German intelligence knew had already been broken by the French. This leaves some historians to suspect that the messages were contrived and the French were using her as a propaganda boost. They claimed she had cost the lives of 50,000 French soldiers. Mat Hari was arrested, stood trail and was convicted of being a German Spy. On October 15th 1917, at the age of 41, Mata Hari was executed by firing squad. She went to her death with dignity, all the while proclaiming her innocence. The prosecutor wanted the trial to be in secret and the records were to be sealed for 100 years. However, in 1985, Biographer Russell Warren convinced the National defense Minister of France to open the sealed case file thirty two years early. In the opinion of many experts, it’s said to reveal that Mata Hari was innocent of the charges of which she was convicted.
Interesting Fact: The more I read about Mata Hari, the more fascinating I found her. I also found this interesting. Henry Wales, a British reporter and eye witness, wrote this incredibly detailed account about the day of her execution. and if u really wanna read that u can do so here:
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/matahari.htm
#3 Martin Luther King Tapes
Sealed Until: 2027
Fearing that Martin Luther King Jr. had ties to Communist organizations, the FBI spied on him for several years. The FBI described King as “the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country”. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover filed a request with Attorney General Robert Kennedy to wiretap King and his associates. Kennedy gave the Bureau permission and tapped their phones and placed hidden microphones in homes, hotel rooms and offices. The FBI was unsuccessful in proving that he had ties to Communists; however they did have something that would reveal embarrassing details about King’s sex life. King refused to give in to the FBI’s threats, even after the FBI drafted a letter to him from an anonymous source detailing everything they knew about his sexual transgressions. Highlights of the letter include: “You are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that.” “The American public will know you for what you are, an evil, abnormal beast, and Satan could not do more” “King, there is only one thing left for you to do.” Some have theorized the intent of the letter was to drive King to commit suicide in order to avoid personal embarrassment. On January 31, 1977, district Judge John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered all known copies of recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI’s surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be sealed in the National Archives and away from public access for 50 years.
Interesting Fact: Ralph Abernathy was a close associate of King’s in the civil rights movement. In his autobiography titled “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down”, he does mention that King was a “womanizer”. He also wrote this about the Surveillance Tapes: “I remember in particular a stay at the Willard Hotel in Washington, where they not only put in audio receivers, but video equipment as well. Then, after collecting enough of this ‘evidence’ to be useful, they began to distribute it to reporters, law officers, and other people in a position to hurt us.” Finally, when no one would do Hoover’s dirty work for him, someone in the FBI put together a tape of highly intimate moments and sent them to Martin. Unfortunately — and perhaps this was deliberate — [his wife] Coretta received the tape and played it first. But such accusations never seemed to touch her. She rose above all the petty attempts to damage their marriage by refusing to even entertain such thoughts.
#2 Sinking of the RMS Lancastria
Sealed Until: 2040
On June 17th 1940, the Lancastria was evacuating British troops and civilian refugees, including women and children from France, which was then on the point of collapse. At 6:00am, Captain Rudolf Sharp received orders to load as many troops and refugees as possible, and to disregard international laws on passenger limits. By lunchtime, the decks were packed with anywhere between 6,000 to 9,000 troops and refugees. A nearby destroyer signaled the Lancastria to get under way, if she was full to capacity, but offered no escort. At 3.48pm, a German bomber appeared and dropped four bombs which ripped through the Lancastria. Within 20 minutes the, luxury liner went down, taking with her an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 victims. The official report of this terrible incident was sealed for 100 years under the Official Secrets Act. It has been argued that this might be because if it could be confirmed that the Ministry of Defense did indeed instruct Captain Sharp to ignore load restrictions, there would be grounds for compensation claims from relatives. In July 2007, another request for documents held by the Ministry of Defense related to the sinking was rejected by the British Government. This tragedy was the largest single-day loss of life to the British Army since the Battle of the Somme. To this day there has been no official British government recognition of the dead or the survivors.
Interesting Fact: Winston Churchill immediately hid the news from the public, thinking that to reveal the truth would have been too damaging for civilian morale. He said, ‘The newspapers have got quite enough disaster for today, at least.
#1Worst Friendly-Fire Incident
Sealed Until: 2045
This is just a heart a wrenching tragedy with a great loss of life, but it remains just a little-known chapter of World War II history, and rarely appears in history books. It happened on May 3, 1945, four days after Hitler’s suicide, and four days before the unconditional German surrender. After enduring years of Nazi brutality, thousands of concentration camp prisoners were loaded on to two German ships in Lubeck Bay, the Cap Arcona and the Thielbek. The British Air Force commanders ordered a strike on the ships, thinking they carried escaping SS officers, possibly fleeing to German-controlled Norway. The British Typhoon fighter-bombers struck in several attack waves. The Thielbek, packed with 2,800 prisoners, sank in just 20 minutes, killing all but 50 prisoners. The Cap Arcona carrying 4,500 prisoners took longer to go under, and many inmates burned to death. In less than two hours, more than 7,000 concentration camp refugees were dead. Some believe the Nazis intended to sink the ships at sea, to kill everyone on board. Another unlikely scenario is the British intelligence may have known who was on the ships and it would explain why the Royal Air Force sealed the records for 100 years.
Interesting Fact: For weeks after the sinking, bodies of the victims were being washed ashore, and were collected and buried in a single mass grave at Neustadt in Holstein. For nearly thirty years, parts of skeletons were being washed ashore, until the last find, by a twelve-year-old boy, in 1971.
