A Muslim princess and a spy! “Nur al-Nisa Inayat Khan” resisted the Nazis, and they executed her after 10 months of torture
An Indian Muslim princess who bravely fought the Nazis and refused to surrender to them. This is how history describes the "Nur Nisa Inayat Khan" whose statue is located in the center of the British capital London, and her pictures appear on the largest banknote in it.
Learn with us in this report the story of the princess who was born in Russia, grew up in Britain and France, and was the first woman to work in the field of espionage as a radio operator during the World War, and was killed by the Nazis after being brutally tortured for 10 months.
Her father is a Sufi musician, and her great grandfather was a sultan
Born in Moscow in 1914, Noor Inayat Khan was raised by her father, the musician and Sufi teacher Inayat Khan, and her mother, the American poet Birani Amina Begum. Its origins go back to her great-grandfather, Sultan Tipu, who was the ruler of the Indian Sultanate of Mysore and was known for his refusal to submit to British rule, and he led battles against the occupation, and was killed in one of them in 1799.
After the outbreak of the popular revolution in Russia at the beginning of the First World War, the Nour al-Nisa' family moved to Britain, then settled in France in 1920.
Writer of children's stories and researcher in religions and cultures
Nour spent most of her youth in Paris, studying child psychology at the Sorbonne, and composition at the Paris Conservatory. She began her writing career in her mid-twenties; She was publishing stories about Indian children's lives in a French newspaper as well as her book "20 Tales from the Jataka".
Children's literature was not Nur's only interest in women; She was also interested in religious cultures, different beliefs, and the history of European literature. She also wrote articles and stories on Russian, Polish and Greek myths.
But the outbreak of World War II prompted Banour Women to change her profession; She transformed from a writer, researcher and musician into an anti-Nazi activist.
Escape to Britain and volunteered in the Air Force and then Special Operations
After the outbreak of World War II, Nour received nursing courses, worked for the French Red Cross, and then fled with her family from France, after becoming affiliated with Nazi Germany, to the United Kingdom. She arrived in the UK under the name "Nur Bakr:", a refugee on the run with her family from the Nazis.
Nour began her anti-Nazi activity by volunteering in the Air Force as a wireless radio operator in 1942. She was the first woman to do that job during the Nazi German occupation of France. Then she decided to join the most dangerous department of the army ever, the Directorate of Special Operations, to become a secret agent and spy for Britain against Nazism.
She was not supportive of Britain but she was against the Nazis
Noor al-Nisa had no reason to support Britain, who had occupied her native India; The princess acted not out of loyalty to that country, but out of her hatred of Nazism and dictatorship.
“For Nur, the Nazi ideology and massacres were abhorrent and in opposition to all principles of religious harmony that her father had brought up on her,” wrote Sharabani Basu , a scholar who had studied the life of Nur al-Nisa for 8 years and wrote an autobiography about her called The Spy Princess in 2006.
Even Noor al-Nisaa made no secret of her motives during her initial interview with the Women's Air Force, as she stunned the committee when she courageously told them that after the war was over, she might have to fight for India against the British. And she hopes her service will help build understanding between the two countries and create "a bridge between the English people and the Indians".
Nour's frankness and boldness in her statements during the interview sparked a dispute between the committee about her suitability for the position. In a government report on the interview, I wrote a note about her describing her as "an unstable and temperamental personality... and it is questionable whether she is really suitable for work in this field." But intelligence officer Vera Atkins, who oversaw the selection of volunteers, was convinced of Noor's ability.
The light of women becomes the spy "Madeline" and runs a network of spies on her own
In the early hours of June 17, 1943, Nour became the first female agent to parachute behind enemy lines in France under the nom de guerre, Madeleine. Its mission was to maintain radio communication between Britain and the resistance in Paris.
This was an incredibly dangerous mission; Because radio equipment was large compared to its size today and difficult to conceal, staying connected for more than 20 minutes at a time risked detection by the enemy.
The average life of a field agent was only 6 weeks before he was discovered or arrested and killed, but Nour survived 3 months without being captured while the Paris resistance network was infiltrated by double agents; What caused it to break up during the summer of 1943?
During that time, Nour worked alone in managing an entire network of clients across Paris, and had to change her name and appearance many times. Although many of the spies who were with her in the network were liquidated by the German secret police "Gestapo", she refused to return to Britain and insisted on continuing her work.
She was arrested after being betrayed by double agents
At the end of the same year, Nour's identity was discovered, she was arrested in her apartment in Paris, and taken to German security headquarters.
Historians disagree about the identity of the traitor who betrayed the women's light, but they say two possibilities. The first is Henry Derecourt, who is revealed to be a double agent. A second possibility is Rene Gary, who may have been seeking revenge on Nour, believing she was having an affair with Frans Antelmy, one of her clients, as Thought Co. notes .
She was tortured for 10 months but she refused to surrender
After her arrest, Nour was transferred to the concentration camp "Dachau" in southern Germany, along with 3 agents who worked with her in 1944.
Nour refused to cooperate with the interrogators, tried to escape twice, and succeeded in one of them, but was arrested again hours later.
Noor al-Nisaa was kept in solitary confinement for 10 continuous months, during which she was subjected to all kinds of torture, but she remained steadfast, and did not reveal the secrets she knew. Until she was executed by firing squad on September 13, 1944.
Bronze statue and coin with her picture, in memory of the heroine princess
After her death, the princess and her brave spy, Nur Nisa Inayat Khan, received many honors for her heroism and bravery.
In 1949, she was awarded the George Cross, Britain's second highest honor for bravery, as well as the French Order of the Croix de Guerre with a Silver Star.
In 2011, a bronze statue of Noor was built in the center of the famous "Gordon Square" in central London, near her former home.
Her image was also printed on the country's largest £50 banknote in 2020, in her honour.
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