Noor Inayat Khan aka Nora Baker,
British resistance agent during World War II. She served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), an organization tasked with espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in Axis-occupied countries, particularly those under Nazi Germany’s control. As an SOE agent with the codename “Madeleine,” she became the first female wireless operator sent from the UK to aid the French Resistance in occupied France.
January 1, 1914 - 13 September 1944
Her father, Inayat Khan, came from a family of Indian Muslims, and her mother, Pirani Ameena Begum, was an American.
Great-Great-Grandfather was Tipu Sultan (!!!!!)
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Noor studied child psychology at the Sorbonne and music at the Paris Conservatory.
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Noor began a career as a writer, publishing her poetry and children’s stories in English and French, was a regular contributor to children’s magazines and French radio
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In 1940 she joined the SOE and was trained as a wireless operator.
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Sent to France in 1943, she transmitted crucial information to London despite great personal risk.
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Unfortunately, she was betrayed, captured by the Gestapo, and executed at Dachau concentration camp in 1944.
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Was considered unsuitable for the job by many of her supervisors