Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan was born on Jan. 1, 1914, in Moscow to Hazrat Inayat Khan and Ora Ray Baker, an American who had changed her name to Amina Sharada Begum after her marriage. Before she died, she was reported to have shouted out "liberty". Noor-un-Nisa said a silent prayer as the women held each other’s hands. Their training began at an air base in England. Gestapo agent, Christian Ott, gave a statement to US investigators after the war as to the fate of Noor. Noor Inayat Khan, the eldest of four children, was born on 1 January 1914 in Moscow. On refusal, they were led outside and shot in the neck. "The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, World War II Spy Heroine." Noor Anayat Khan: The princess who became a spy She was a Sufi pacifist who fought for Britain and died at the hands of the Gestapo. 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of her birth. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/noor-inayat-khan-biography-4582812. She was the first child of Inayat Khan and Pirani Ameena Begum. For this and the damage she did to the Nazis war efforts, she was executed in Dachau. One minute later, they were dead, shot in the back of the head. Her parents were visiting the Tsar of Russia at the time. At the Sorbonne University she would go on to finish a degree in child psychology. More than 500 agents were recruited by the British to become ‘Special Operations Executives’ (SOE). Hans Kieffer, the former head of the SD in Paris, testified after the war that she did not give the Gestapo a single piece of information, but lied consistently. Using every technique possible, from changing her looks to changing her location and more, she evaded the Nazis at every turn. Her history and arts writing has been featured on Slate, HowlRound, and BroadwayWorld.​, ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Despite these concerns, Khan impressed Vera Atkins, the intelligence officer who was her superior in “F Section." She was recruited by the Special Operations Executive, the British spy organization during the war, and specifically assigned to the sections related to the war in France. She was to be the first woman wireless operator sent into France. Khan was then taken to Germany and kept in solitary confinement for the next ten months. Chief of German police, Heinrich Himmler had ordered: “The agents should die, certainly, but not before torture, indignity and interrogation has drained from them the last shred of evidence that should lead us to others. (2020, August 28). Code named ‘Madeleine’, Noor landed by plane one dark night in June 1943 in northern France. In September 1944, Noor was removed to the Dachau concentration camp. “Her transmissions became the only link between the agents around the Paris area and London,” Ms. Basu wrote in her biography “Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan.”. Noor Inayat Khan was the eldest child, and had three siblings – Vilayat (1916-2004), Hidayat (1917-2016), and Khair-un-Nisa (1919-2011), all of whom were born in London unlike Noor herself. Noor-un-Nisa Inayat-Khan (meaning ‘light of womanhood’) was awarded the posthumous George Cross and MBE. When France fell to the Germans, Noor’s family fled to Britain. The true life of Noor Inayat Khan is the stuff legends are made of. Historians disagree as to who the traitor was. Although she consistently lied to investigators, and even attempted to escape twice, her shortened security training came back to hurt her, as the Nazis were able to find her notebooks and use the information in them to impersonate her and continue to transmit to unsuspecting London headquarters. Khan attempted escape once more, along with two other prisoners, on November 25, 1943. Khan was assigned to work in the sub-circuit led by Emile Garry in Paris. Both Zehra’s grandparents served in the Imperial Indian army. Captured and taken to the Gestapo headquarters for interrogation, Noor escaped almost immediately. Their final training was in the art of codes, secret inks, blowing safes and forging documents. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our. He described a scene where the women cried and asked for a priest. Scroll down for video Noor Inayat Khan wartime heroine who had a … Noor Inayat Khan has been heavily promoted as a great heroine by the British in order to cover up what really happened. She also studied music with the famed instructor Nadia Boulanger. Noor was viciously tortured as the Germans attempted to extract information from her. Unfortunately, Khan was discovered when someone betrayed her to the Nazis. However, within weeks, the Paris circuit was discovered and almost all her fellow agents were swept up by the Gestapo—making Khan the only remaining operator in the region. The following day, after arrival, she was executed. One, given by an SS officer who witnessed the execution, portrayed it very clinically: a death sentence pronounced, some sobbing, and the execution-style deaths. She was made to kneel on the ground, and shot through the back of her neck. She made a 2nd escape On 25 November 1943, along with fellow SOE agents John Renshaw Starr and Léon Faye, but was recaptured in the vicinity. They lived there for six years before relocating to France, just outside of Paris; by that point, the family included a total of four children. Charged with ‘Setting Europe Ablaze’, the freedom fighters were parachuted behind enemy lines in World War Two as part of the resistance to Nazi Germany. Prahl, Amanda. She died on September 13, 1944 in Dachau, Bavaria, Germany. https://www.thoughtco.com/noor-inayat-khan-biography-4582812 (accessed January 27, 2021). Henry Johnson, When Chuck Yeager Broke the Sound Barrier With Broken Ribs. For ten months, she was kept there, shackled at her hands and feet. As a young adult, Khan attended the Sorbonne to study child psychology. The pair of women held hands. Classically trained in music, her family lived in London and then Paris where she studied the veena (a sitar-type of instrument), piano and harp. Her story endured in popular culture, and in 2011, a campaign raised funds for a bronze bust of Khan in London, near her former home. According to eyewitnesses, her last word (that she screamed at the Nazi shooting squad) was “liberte”. She was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century Muslim ruler of Mysore. Noor was chosen to be sent to France as a wireless operator because she was the least qualified woman in the SOE; the British wanted an SOE agent to be caught so that the Germans could acquire a British radio. Photo Source On her father’s side, she was descended from Indian Muslim royalty: his family was related closely to Tipu Sultan, the famous ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. Fast Facts: Noor Inayat Khan Known For: Renowned spy who served as a wireless operator for the Special Operations Executive during World War II Born: January 1, 1914 in Moscow, Russia Died: September 13, 1944 in the Dachau concentration camp, Bavaria, Germany Noor Inayat Khan’s memorial plaque at the Dachau Memorial Hall. Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. Female Spies in World War I and World War II, Biography of Virginia Hall, WWII's Most Wanted Spy, Biography of Mata Hari, Infamous World War I Spy, World War II: Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny, Biography of Lili Elbe, Pioneering Transgender Woman, Biography of Josephine Baker, Dancer, Singer, Activist, and Spy, Women and World War II: Concentration Camps, Biography of Peggy Shippen, Socialite and Spy, The Gestapo: Definition and History of the Nazi Secret Police, Dachau: The First Nazi Concentration Camp, Industry and Agriculture History in Europe, M.F.A, Dramatic Writing, Arizona State University, B.A., English Literature, Arizona State University, B.A., Political Science, Arizona State University. On the morning of September 13, 1944, Noor Inayat was executed at Dachau along with three other women. Garry was arrested after the war and trialed for treason. Then, and only then, should the blessed release of death be granted them.” Source — Ungentlemanly Warfare. One of his sisters was Noor Inayat Khan GC MBE. I was Noor Inayat Khan for the BBC production of doctor who! Of the 39 SOE agents who could be linked to Noor Inayat Khan, 28 were caught and executed. By the time of Khan's birth, her father had settled in Europe and made a living as a musician and a teacher of the Islamic mysticism known as Sufism. Noor was perfect for the role of a wireless operator. The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, World War II Spy Heroine. She was sent to Nazi-occupied France … She was thirty years old. Madeleine was her code name. At one point, huddled late at night transmitting her coded messages, she could her the German soldiers reveling in the apartment below her. Her father Hazrat Inayat Khan, was an Indian Muslim who was a musician and Sufi preacher by profession. The grim sky over the Dachau concentration camp was dark from smoke rising out of the crematorium. Wells challenges the narrative of lynchings. Still, Noor refused to give up any information. She had one book published in Britain in 1939 and spoke French like a native. Although she did not have a natural talent for espionage and failed to impress in those parts of her training, her wireless skills were excellent. During this time, Khan produced musical compositions, as well as poetry and children’s stories. Vilayat Inayat Khan (19 June 1916 – 17 June 2004) was a teacher of meditation and of the traditions of the East Indian Chishti Sufi sect of Sufism.His teaching derived from the tradition of his father, Inayat Khan, founder of The Sufi Order in the West (now named the Ināyati Order), in a form tailored to the needs of Western seekers. In 1949, she was awarded the George Cross, the second-highest British honor for bravery, as well as the French Croix de Guerre with a silver star. Khan was selected for a dangerous mission: to be a wireless operator in occupied France, transmitting messages and serving as a connection between agents on the ground and the base in London. Noor Inayat Khan was born in January 1914 in Moscow, Russia. Noor had taken up residence in an apartment block full of German officers. Noor and three other SOE agents were moved to the Dachau Concentration Camp. One was shot twice as she had shown signs of life. The four women were made to kneel in the sandy yard. Fifty were women. Noor was a Sufi Indian born in the Kremlin of Czar Nicholas, 1914. The family moved to London the same year Khan was born, just as World War I broke out. She was executed on September 13, 1944. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed ), memorial page for Noor un-Nisa Inayat Khan (1 Jan 1914–Sep 1944), Find a Grave Memorial no. When her father died in 1927, Khan took over as the head of the family, caring for her mother and three siblings. How did a Sorbonne educated musician, a student of child psychology, and an author of a book of fairy tales became a daring spy who died fighting the Nazis? SOE agents were woken in the middle of the night and interrogated to see how they handled stress and pressure. Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan was born in Moscow on 2 January 1914 as the eldest child of Hazrat Inayat Khan and Pirani Ameena Begum. (Top row, left to right) Behic Erkin, King Zog I of Albania, Noor Inayat Khan; (Bottom row, left to right) Mohamed Helmy, Rifat Abdyl Hoxha, Ahmed Pasha Bey. For almost a year, manacled, barely able to move, Noor was kept this way in solitary confinement. She was born on 1st January 1914, seven months before World War 1 broke out. She was ultimately betrayed by a French collaborator, and interrogated for months by the Gestapo. She was found not guilty by a single vote. My first time as … Inayat died suddenly during a visit to India in 1927, leaving Amina grief stricken, and 13-year-old Noor took on responsibility for her sister and two brothers. On 27 November 1943, Noor was transported to Germany “for safe custody” and imprisoned at Pforzheim in solitary confinement as a “Nacht und Nebel” (“Night and Fog”: condemned to “Disappearance without Trace”) prisoner, in complete secrecy. According to Sadia Dehlvi, Inayat Khan died in 1927 and was buried in Delhi, though he had settled down with his wife in Suresness, a Parisian suburb. ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/noor-inayat-khan-biography-4582812. Noor Inayat Khan, a descendent of Indian royalty, was a great heroine of World War II. She was offered the option to be pulled from the field, but insisted on staying and completing her mission. Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan (January 1, 1914 –September 13, 1944), also known as Nora Inayat-Khan or Nora Baker, was a renowned British spy of Indian heritage. Originally, this petition's author, Zehra Zaidi, had suggested Noor Inayat Khan for the £50 note as she was a personal heroine. She was 30. The following day, after arrival, she was executed. Noor Inayat Khan Picture Gallery There are two differing accounts of her death. Khan's father was a pacifist, as his religion and moral code dictated, and Khan absorbed many of those principles. Sunday, January 10 2021 Breaking News Khan was born in Moscow in 1914 to Indian father Hazrat Inayat Khan and American mother Ora Ray Baker. She was 30 years old. She is the first female British spy to be sent to Paris during the second world war. Practising how to roll on the ground after jumping from a moving truck at 30 mph. Khan was born on New Year's Day 1914 in Moscow, Russia. She had volunteered for the Special Operations Executive, a secret organisation that worked behind enemy lines. The advanced class finished with an airplane jump at just 500 feet, at night, giving them a mere 30 seconds before they crashed into land. The second is Renee Garry, the sister of Khan's supervising agent, who may have been paid off and who may have been been seeking revenge on Khan, believing she had stolen the affections of SOE agent France Antelme. Her father was the head of a Sufi sect, an ascetic Islamic religious movement which emphasised a direct, personal experience of God. They were all trained volunteers who went into the … However, a British air raid led to their final capture. Eventually, for the grand sum of 100,000 francs, a French woman, named Renée Garry, betrayed Noor. Khan was arrested and imprisoned in October 1943. Gestapo agent, Christian Ott, … I Am Your Protector. Before the war, Noor wrote children’s fairy stories for French Radio. Her last word was reported as “Liberté” — freedom. Her last word as the firing squad raised their weapons on September 13, 1944, was 'liberté'. The air raid sirens triggered an unplanned check on the prisoners, which alerted the Germans to their escape. Christopher Hudson from the Daily Mail newspaper commented, Its one of the most inspirational stories of World War II; reading this book is like watching a butterfly trapped in a net. By 1941, Khan was bored with her posting at a training camp, so she applied for a transfer. ThoughtCo. ... Sultan of the Muslim kingdom Mysore in India who fiercely battled invading British forces and died in battle in 1799. The first is Henri Dericourt, who was revealed to be a double agent but who may have done so on orders from British intelligence MI6. Once the parachute jump was perfected, they moved onto unarmed combat, silent killing, weapon usage and sabotage with plastic explosives. Legend has it that moments before her death, a beaten Noor Inayat had screamed 'Liberte', which means 'freedom'. She continued her education, studying child psychology at the Sorbonne and music at the … Noor Inayat Khan, a descendant of Tipu Sultan, an 18th-century Muslim ruler of the Mysore state, remained almost anonymous. In June 1943, Khan, along with a few other agents, arrived in France, where they were met by Henri Dericourt, a French SOE agent. Ott’s statement is considered unreliable and in 1958 an anonymous Dutch prisoner asserted that Noor was cruelly beaten by an SS officer named Wilhelm Ruppert before being shot from behind. Khan trained to be a wireless operator in occupied territory—the first woman to be deployed in this capacity. in June 1943 she was sent to France, where she assumed the name Jeanne-Marie Renier, posing as a children’s nurse. For her part, Khan was mostly a quiet, thoughtful child with a knack for creativity. There was war, economic depression and the rise of communism and fascism, all which would have an effect on her life. One such agent was Noor-un-Nisa Inayat-Khan. She never gave up any information, not even her real name, and she organized two breakouts from Gestapo headquarters. In 1940, as France fell to the Nazi invaders, the Khan family fled and returned to England. In despair at the appalling nature of her confinement, other prisoners could hear her crying late into the night. Noor was constantly on the move in France. Prahl, Amanda. Behind them stood the German soldiers aiming guns at their hands. Her fighting spirit glowed brightly! Early life of Noor Inayat Khan. Posthumously, Khan was awarded multiple honors for her work and her bravery. Eventually, in 1944, Khan was transferred to Dachau, the concentration camp. Her mother was an American. Operators could not stay in one location for long, due to the likelihood of being discovered, but moving was also a risky proposition due to the bulky, easily noticed radio equipment. In 1943, at the height of the Second World War, Noor Inayat-Khan became one of the first female radio operators to go undercover in Nazi-occupied France. "The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, World War II Spy Heroine." In September 1944, Noor was removed to the Dachau concentration camp. She managed to stay one step ahead of the Germans by constantly changing her address. SOE twice offered her repatriation to Britain, but she refused and remained working. Two and a half million Indian soldiers fought under British command against the Axis powers and over 87,000 Indian soldiers died in World War II. Meanwhile, she determinedly continued doing the job she was sent to do, and then some. Olódùmarè and The Concept of God of the Yoruba People. The Gestapo struggled to keep up with her as she swiftly moved from one safe house to another. Take a look, Ida B. During one period of World War II, she handled clandestine radio traffic in occupied Paris nearly singlehandedly. Noor Inayat Khan was born on New Year's Day 1914 in Moscow to an Indian father and an American mother. Torture of women included beatings, sleep deprivation, cutting breasts off, pulling out finger and toenails and near-drowning. By the time Khan was assigned this mission, operators in this job were considered lucky to survive two months before being captured. With her mother incapacitated by grief, the responsibility of the household and her siblings fell on the young shoulders of Noor, who just 13 at that time. Tragedy struck the Khan family in 1927, when Inayat Khan passed away while on a pilgrimage in India. This resulted in the captures and deaths of more SOE agents who were sent to France because their superiors either did not realize or believe that Khan's transmissions were fake. Her food was passed through a tiny hatch in the door. Her legacy lives on as a groundbreaking heroine and as a spy who refused to abandon her post, even in the face of unprecedented demand and danger. Why Japanese Americans Want People To Know Their History, Correcting the Record of WWI Hero and Medal of Honor Recipient Sgt. As the prison director testified after the war, she remained uncooperative and continued to refuse to give any information on her work or her fellow operatives. A bust has been unveiled in London later to commemorate British-Indian agent Noor Inayat Khan, who worked in France during WWII before being tortured and shot by the Germans. Noor Inayat Khan was born into a fast-changing and unstable world. Khan also broke new ground as a Muslim female operative.