'Liberte'

Noor Inayat Khan’s name is lesser known than other war heroes. The sacrifices of women, and especially women of colour, are often erased from public memory.  Of course, it is difficult to get a picture of the exact movements of any historic spy, but I have done my best to piece together the information we have available. 

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British spy agency which ran covert operations behind enemy lines during WW2. It was set up by Churchill in July 1940. In April 1942, women were officially allowed to be recruited into the agency as it was believed they would gather less suspicion. Four months later, Noor Inayat Khan applied to the SOE. 

On paper, she was the perfect candidate: she had grown up largely in France making her language and knowledge of the country flawless. She had also been trained as a wireless operator by the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) since 1940 and she was clearly naturally skilled. However, she was also considered a risky candidate. There were questions surrounding her loyalties as Khan's father was descendant of Tipu Sultan, making Noor an Indian Princess. This was at the same time as the Indian Independence movement and Khan admitted to supporting this. But the worst risk with Khan was her commitment to honesty; her father had taught her that to lie was one of the worst sins, she believed this completely and followed this rule at all times. An inability to lie is an obvious disadvantage for a spy. But the SOE were in desperate need of radio operators in France so she was admitted into training.  

Noor Inayat Khan was descended from Indian royalty. Her father was a Sufi religious teacher and her mother was an American who had met her father on his travels. Khan was born in Moscow before spending a brief period of her infancy in London and then settling in Paris which she regarded as home. Khan’s father died when she was a teenager, and she took up partial responsibility over three siblings. Khan studied psychology before becoming a published children's author. In June 1940, Khan and her family escaped Paris narrowly avoiding Nazi occupation. All four Khan siblings pledged to assist French resistance upon arrival to England and despite the pacifist beliefs of the Sufi religion, they decided joining the war effort was the only correct thing to do to save their beloved Paris from the Nazis. Upon arriving in Britain, she joined the WAAF in November 1940.  

Khan began her training with the SOE in March 1943. Her instructors seemed unsure of her ability, noting she lacked physical abilities, feared weapons, failed tests due to nervousness and had an inability to lie, a childlike innocence and gullible nature! Khan may have been a perfect children's author, but she definitely wasn't a natural spy. She was, however, determined to defend France and very skilled with a radio. Maybe more importantly to her supervisors there was severe shortages in the SOE spy network in France, known as Prosper: if they didn't send out a radio operator in a matter of weeks the whole operation could collapse. The shortages meant Khan had to be deployed with her training cut short. Final reports said she was “not overburdened with brains”, although this report probably speaks more to the prejudice of her supervisors than Khan's actual intellect.  After all she had studied psychology and published books back in France, plus she was clearly an extremely skilled radio operator to have been selected for this role. In fact, many of the reports from Khan's training are likely to have been influenced by the racist and sexist beliefs of her seniors. 

On the night of the 16th June 1943, three years after Khan had last stepped foot in France, she became the first female radio operator Britain had sent into Nazi occupied France. Khan, codenamed ‘Madeleine’, was given the cover of a children's nurse ‘Jean Marie’. However, within a week of Khan's arrival, gestapo agents had captured a Canadian radio set, crystals used to set the frequency to transmit messages to London and a logbook containing codenames and addresses of almost a dozen British agents from allied spies. The Gestapo now had the information to track down and arrest every British spy in the Prosper network - it was only a matter of time until the operation collapsed.  

Within 10 days of Khan's arrival in Paris, the Germans had infiltrated the prosper network. On the 23rd and 24th of June, some of Khan's fellow officers were captured and likely tortured for information. The Nazis were given a vague description of ‘Madeline’ and would relentlessly pursue her for the following months. Khan was quickly given the option to return to England, but she insisted on staying as she was the last SOE radio operator in Paris and she hoped to uphold the circuit before the British could send out another operator. She became the sole link for the spy agency between London and Paris, and she was known to the Nazis. Most radio operators lasted 6 weeks before returning or being captured, Khan endured 3 months. 

During this period we have little definite information about her movements, but it is believed she relied on old contacts and childhood friends from before the war, and regularly dyed her hair and changed her wardrobe to evade capture. We do have evidence of a few close misses. Including one (almost unbelievable) story which highlights how her truthfulness aided her. It is said that one day she was trying to set up an aerial transmitter when she was caught by a SS officer, she simply explained to the officer she wanted to be able to listen to different radio stations, the unsuspecting officer then helped her attach the transmitter. Khan wasn't “lying” simply omitting part of the truth.  

Eventually, a replacement radio operator was found for Khan. Khan's return flight was planned for October 14th, 1943, however on the 13th Khan was captured by the Gestapo after being betrayed by a Frenchwoman. The woman sold her out for 100,000 francs but the Nazis later said they would have paid a lot more for the agent they knew as ‘Madeline’. She was taken to the Gestapo headquarters where she unsuccessfully tried to escape twice. After refusing to promise she wouldn't try to escape again, Khan was labelled as highly dangerous and transferred to Pforzheim prison where she was placed in solitary confinement. Despite being kept in chains and subjected to regular torture and beatings, Khan never gave up any information, including her real name.  To the Nazi officers she was ‘Nora Baker’ (Baker being her mother’s maiden name).  

SOE agents were told in training they had a 50/50 chance of survival, in reality, two thirds of SOE agents survived the war.  Khan was not so fortunate. On September 11th 1944, Khan along with three female compatriots was sent to Dauchu concentration camp. It is believed Khan was singled out from the other women for an additional night of torture due to her fierce reputation, important role in the prosperous network and dark skin, before being executed by gunshot on September 13th. Her last word was said to have been ‘liberté’: freedom. She never knew this word would escape the walls of the cell she was executed in or the memory of the officer who executed her.  

After the war, Khan posthumously received the George Cross for her bravery along with other French medals of honour. She also featured on a Royal Mail postage stamp in 2014. Her life has been recognised in many films and TV shows. I would recommend the dramatised podcast series “The Spy Who Wouldn’t Lie” if you would like to learn more about Khan's life.  

Khan was a brave woman, there is no denying that, but she was also gentle by nature. Her story shows that bravery can coincide with sensitivity. Khan was not born to be a war hero, but she became one despite the odds because of her unwavering determination and bravery. I think that is the message I admire most from her story. She was underestimated but to exceed those expectations, not expecting anything in return but the promise of ‘liberté’.