Noor Inayat Khan
I first learned about Noor Inayat Khan at a talk last year, and it is my honour to share her story with you today and to introduce you to one of the many brave women who assisted the Allies in WW II.
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, also called Nora, was born on January 1st, 1914, in Moscow; she was the eldest of four children. Her father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, was an Indian musician and Sufi teacher, and her mother, Ameena Begum (born Ora Ray Baker), was an American poet and writer.
Before the outbreak of WWI in 1914, the family moved to London, and then Paris in 1920. Noor and her siblings enjoyed a childhood full of art, music, and literature, and were influenced by their father's spiritual teachings. Sadly, in 1927 Noor’s father passed away, and she took on the responsibility of raising her younger siblings while her mother was grieving. At this time, Noor also began writing poetry and children’s stories. Noor and her family returned to England when they fled the German invasion of France in 1940.
In November 1940, Noor joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, or WAAF, and trained as a wireless operator before being assigned to Bomber Training School. In 1942 she was recruited into the SOE, which specialised in espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance within occupied Europe. In 1943, Noor became the first female wireless operator to be sent into occupied Europe. She made her way to Paris under the guise of a children’s nurse (’Nurse’ was also her SOE callsign). While in Paris, she played a vital role in maintaining contact between the French resistance and London.
After being in Paris for five months, Noor was betrayed by a collaborator. She was captured and interrogated by the Gestapo. She managed to escape once, but was quickly recaptured. Throughout all of this, Noor never handed over any intel to the Nazis. She was kept in solitary confinement for 10 months before eventually being sent to Dachau Camp on September 12th, 1944, where she was executed on the 13th of September, 1944, one day after arriving.
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