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*Migration Histories > South Asian > Working Lives
* Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan (1914-44) 
 
Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan: Heroine of the Resistance

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Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan was the great-great grand daughter of Tipu Sultan, the Muslim ruler of Mysore. Tipu Sultan, a staunch opponent of colonialism in India, fought in four wars against the English, the fourth resulting in his death.
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Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan was the great-great granddaughter of Tipu Sultan, the Muslim ruler of Mysore. Tipu Sultan, a staunch opponent of colonialism in India, fought in four wars against the English, the fourth resulting in his death.
* Moving Here catalogue reference (V&A) IS.266-1952
Noor-un-nisa Khan was born in Russia to an Indian father, Inayat Khan, founder of the *Sufi order in the West, and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker. Her childhood and adolescence was spent in France, in a suburb of Paris. She later went on to study child psychiatry and music at the Sorbonne in Paris and developed a career as a writer of children's stories, including the Jataka Tales Retold , based on the life of *Buddha. Khan's stories were also broadcast on French Radio.

During the Second World War she was evacuated to Britain with her family, where she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). Noor was selected by the Special Operations Executive and trained as a wireless operator to work with the resistance in occupied France, transmitting messages between France and Britain. She was the first woman to be sent to France in this capacity. Previous woman agents had been employed as couriers.

Khan had her critics who questioned her selection for this operation.

"Not overburdened with brains but has worked hard and shown keenness, apart from some dislike of security side of the course. She has an unstable and temperamental personality and it is very doubtful whether she is really suited to work in the field."
Colonel Frank Spooner (1943) as quoted in Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History by Rozina Visram.

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Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan pictured here in her WAAF uniform.
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Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan pictured here in her WAAF uniform.
* Moving Here catalogue reference (IWM) HU74868
In June 1943 Khan flew to France under the codename Madeleine, where she was to serve as a radio operator for the Paris area. Shortly after her arrival her colleagues in the French Resistance were captured by the Germans.

Khan's radio connection with England and liaison work were crucial in furthering the *Allied cause in Europe. The work of a wireless operator was extremely dangerous as the possibility of detection and capture by the enemy was always imminent.

"If some Indians were to win 'high military distinctions ... if one or two could do something in the Allied service which was very brave and which everybody admired, it would help make a bridge between the English people and the Indians."
Khan as quoted in Asians In Britain: 400 Years of History by Rozina Visram.

After four months of successfully transmitting messages and evading the *Gestapo she was betrayed and taken as prisoner to Germany where she was interrogated, and after failed attempts to escape she was eventually transferred to Dachau concentration camp where she was shot dead in 1944.

Along with Khan, the Germans had in their possession, her transmitter, her codes, and a school exercise book in which she kept a clear record of the messages exchanged with London. With these, the Germans were able to re-establish a connection with, and infiltrate the Allied service.

Khan's heroic deeds during the Second World War were recognised by the French and British Government when she was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the George Cross after her death.

Glossary entry: Sufism Footnote Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History by Rozina Visram (Pluto Press, 2000); Continental Daily Mail, 6 April 1949; Newspaper report, 'Chosen for Pluck', 5 April 1949


Creators: Dr. Shompa Lahiri

 
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