If you knew you were about to die; what would your last words be? Would it be a plea for your life? Would it be something to your friends or family? Or would it be to shout at your captors “Liberté!” (freedom)? That is what Noor Inayat Khan reportedly shouted at the Gestapo who executed her. Even as she faced her death, Khan continued to fight against tyranny.
Noor Inayat Khan was born January 1, 1914 in Moscow, Russia to an American mother and Indian father. Her father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, was a musician and a teacher of Sufism. He met her mother, Ora Ray Baker, later called Amina Sharada Begum, while traveling in America. Because her father was descended from an 18th century ruler in West India, some people have called her a “princess spy.”
The family only lived in Moscow for a few months before moving to London, England. Her three siblings were born in London. After World War I, the family moved to Paris where the children spent most of their childhoods.
When she was thirteen, her father unexpectedly passed away. Her mother was devastated by grief and being the oldest of four, Noor felt the responsibility to take care of her family.
Eventually she became a musician where she specialized in numerous instruments but focused her studies on the piano and the harp. She studied music at the Paris Conservatory and wrote children’s stories in English and French. In 1939, her book, Twenty Jataka Tales, was published. At the Sorbonne, she studied child psychology.
Although Khan was raised a Muslim pacifist, she viewed it as a moral choice to fight Nazi aggression. In 1940 at the age of twenty-six, she volunteered for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. She trained to become a wireless radio operator.
Due to being bilingual and having lived in France, she was recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This secret British organization helped the resistance movement fright the Nazis behind enemy lines through espionage and sabotage.
Although radio operators were desperately needed, some were concerned about her aptitude for the job and her intelligence. Some wondered if she was too young and inexperienced, and she accidentally revealed her British background by pouring milk into tea cups before the tea (which was common at the time).
In her personal file, a superior officer, Colonel Frank Spooner, wrote, “[she is] not overburdened with brains but has worked hard and shown keenness, apart from some dislike of the security side of the course. She has an unstable and temperamental personality and it is very doubtful she is really suited to work in the field.”
Due to her skills at the radio, she was the first female radio operator to be sent into occupied France by the British. She arrived in June 1943. She posed as a children’s nurse and was given the code name Madeleine. Within ten days of her arrival, all the British agents in her network happened to be arrested. Even though the SOE wanted her to return, she refused and said she would make a network of her own.
She did the work of six radio operators and was able to avoid detection by dying her hair. She used the homes of old friends so she could send messages to London.
After three months and when she was about to leave for England, she was captured by the Gestapo. She was sent to the German prison Pforzheim after trying to escape Gestapo Headquarters. After ten months of torture and solitary confinement, she was transferred to Dachau.
On the 13th of September 1944, Khan, along with three other prisoners, was shot dead.
Her bravery has been lauded by many in the years since her passing. The Producer of the docudrama Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story, said she was: “A woman who grew up raised not to lie, raised to be a pacifist — and yet here she was doing one of the most dangerous missions available in the war and doing it when many other people backed away.”
Due to her bravery, after her death she was awarded the George Cross from England and the Croix de Guerre from France.
References:
- Bakare, Lanre. 2020. “Spy Becomes First Woman of South Asian Descent to Get Blue Plaque in London.” The Guardian. August 27, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/28/spy-becomes-first-woman-of-south-asian-descent-to-get-blue-plaque-in-london.
- BBC. 2014. “BBC – History – Noor Inayat Khan.” Bbc.co.uk. 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/inayat_khan_noor.shtml.
- History TV. 2023. “The Life of Noor Inayat Khan: An Unsung Hero of WWII,” February 17, 2023. https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-life-of-noor-inayat-khan.
- Milmo, Cahal. 2011. “Honoured at Last, the Indian Heroine of Churchill’s Spy Squad | the Independent.” The Independent. January 4, 2011. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/honoured-at-last-the-indian-heroine-of-churchill-s-spy-squad-2175177.html.
- “Noor Anayat Khan: The Princess Who Became a Spy.” 2006. The Independent. February 20, 2006. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/noor-anayat-khan-the-princess-who-became-a-spy-6108704.html.
- “Noor Inayat Khan | SOE Agent | Blue Plaques.” n.d. English Heritage. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/noor-inayat-khan/.
- NPR Staff. 2014. “One Woman, Many Surprises: Pacifist Muslim, British Spy, WWII Hero.” NPR. September 6, 2014. https://www.npr.org/2014/09/06/346049148/one-woman-many-surprises-pacifist-muslim-british-spy-wwii-hero.
- Teekah, Ethan. 2024. “Noor Inayat Khan | Biography, World War II, SOE, French Resistance, & Facts | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com. May 23, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Noor-Inayat-Khan.
- Tsang, Amie. 2018. “Overlooked No More: Noor Inayat Khan, Indian Princess and British Spy.” The New York Times, November 28, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/obituaries/noor-inayat-khan-overlooked.html.
- Wolfe, Michael. 2014. “Meet the Muslims Who Sacrificed Themselves to Save Jews and Fight Nazis in World War II.” Washington Post, August 4, 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/09/08/meet-the-muslims-who-sacrificed-themselves-to-save-jews-and-fight-nazis-in-world-war-ii/.