NOOR INAYAT KHAN, a descendent of the 18th-century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, has been honoured with a commemorative postage stamp by France for her role in the French Resistance as an undercover British agent during the second world war.
The French postal service, La Poste, honoured Noor with a stamp issued to honour the “Figures of the Resistance” who fought against Nazi Germany. She is among a dozen war heroes and heroines and the only one of India-origin chosen on the set of stamps issued this month to mark 80 years since the end of the war.
Each stamp is in the form of an etching taken from a photograph, with the stamp on Noor showcasing her in her British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) uniform.
Born Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan in Moscow in 1914 to an Indian Sufi saint father and American mother, Noor moved to London at a young age before settling in Paris for her school years. Following the fall of France during the Second World War, the family escaped to England and Noor joined the WAAF.
On February 8, 1943, she was recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) – a British secret service created to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied territories during the war.
She went on to become the first female radio operator infiltrated into occupied France in June 1943 and was captured by Nazi forces to be deported to Dachau concentration camp, where she was tortured and executed on September 13, 1944, aged just 30 years.
In recognition of her immense bravery, Noor Inayat Khan was awarded the French Resistance Medal and France’s highest civilian honour, the Croix de Guerre, as well as a posthumous George Cross (GC) by Britain in 1949.
“Risking their lives, they saved the country’s honour,” reads a statement describing their efforts.
