Related Articles
Image: Instagram
World War II was not just about the soldiers who fought with ammunition and war machines. It was also fought behind the scenes with the spies who infiltrated the enemy lines. One such lady is Noor Inayat Khan. This woman of Indian origins was an undercover radio operator who worked in 1943 in Nazi-captured France for Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE).
She was bestowed with the Blue Plaque, to be kept in her home in central London where she lived before going to France as a spy.
Image: Instagram
Born in 1914 to a Sufi saint Hazrat Inayat Khan from India and Pirani Ameena Begum (born Ora Ray Baker) from America, Khan can trace back her ancestry to the Mysore king, Tipu Sultan through her paternal grandmother. She did her schooling and education in London and Paris. In 1943, she joined the SOE and became the first female radio operator to be sent to Nazi-occupied France. She was the oldest amongst four siblings and was born in Russia. The family moved to Britain after World War I commenced. The family lived in London from 1914 to 1920 before moving to France. She took on the responsibility of her family after her father’s demise. Incidentally, she began a career writing children’s stories and poetry. She was a regular contributor to French radio and children’s magazines.
In 1940, when the Second World War commenced, the family fled back to Britain to 4 Taviton Street at Bloomsbury, London, where they had lived before moving to France. This is the same house that will now host the Blue Plaque. The Blue Plaque scheme has been running since it was founded in 1866 by the English Heritage Charity. It honours the buildings where notable figures of history lived or worked. Khan’s plaque reads: “Noor Inayat Khan GC, 1914-1944, SOE Agent codename ‘Madeleine’ stayed here”.
Image: Instagram
Once in London, she enrolled for the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in November 1940. She was trained as a wireless operator. Later, Khan was recruited to join the Special Operations Executive’s F (France) Section. After intensive training, she was promoted to Assistant Section Officer and in June 1943, Khan, with an undercover identity of Jeanne-Marie Regnier and cryptonym as ‘Madeleine’ and/or W/T operator ‘Nurse’, went to France.
She was betrayed though by another SOE operative Henri Déricourt or Renée Garry, sister of yet another SOE operative Emile Garry. It was on or around October 13, 1943, that the Gestapo arrested Khan and interrogated her at the SD Headquarters in Paris. Her arrest was kept under wraps, and the enemy continued to send messages under her codename. It was much later that the truth was found out. While she did try to escape from her containment, she was recaptured. She was then transferred to Germany on November 27, 1943, and placed under solitary confinement for ten months. She refused to cooperate and give information about her work and fellow agents. On September 13, 1944, she along with fellow agents Madeleine Damerment, Eliane Plewman and Yolande Beekman were executed at the Dachau concentration camp.
Image: Instagram
Khan was posthumously awarded in 1949 both the George Cross, Britain’s highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy, and a French Croix de Guerre with a silver star. A statue of her bust was put up in Gordon Square Gardens, London. Princess Royal Anne unveiled it. She has also been commemorated on a stamp issued by the Royal Mail in 2014. Her biography, Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, was written by journalist Shrabani Basu. Speaking to an Indian news channel, Basu said, “When Noor Inayat Khan left this house on her last mission, she would never have dreamed that one day she would become a symbol of bravery.” A movie is being made, A Call to Spy, on women spies in World War II where actor Radhika Apte will be taking on Khan’s role.
Other Indians who have been bestowed the Blue Plaque are Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar. Khan is now amongst the 14 per cent of women who have this plaque awarded to them.
Also Read:
