Noor Inayat Khan - Unlikely Heroine Quiz

Answer: Sufism

One of the lessons that Noor learnt from her father was pacifism, which made her decision to join the forces in WWII even more interesting. Her mother was related to Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science movement.

Answer: Moscow

It is part of the Noor legend that she was born in the Kremlin. There is no evidence to suggest that this is true, and her first biographer, family friend Jean Overton Fuller, does not mention this claim in her book.

Answer: London

The family moved there in 1914 when she was only a few months old. This was not to be the last time that Noor lived in London, as she and her family relocated there again after being evacuated from France. There is a campaign to have her house become part of the Blue Plaque scheme (where the houses of prominent people are identified with a blue plaque showing the dates that they lived there).

Answer: The Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is the oldest university in Paris, with the first college being founded in 1253.

Answer: Harp and piano

There is a photo of Noor with one of her harps at the following link:
www.harpcolumn.com

One of her harps is also on display in her former family home in Paris.

Answer: Child psychology

Noor had a long-term interest in humanities and studied child psychology alongside music in Paris. Some sources report her as having attained a degree in child psychology. Her later cover story for her resistance work was that of a child nurse.

Answer: Children's stories

Shortly before the outbreak of WWII, Noor published a book of twenty fairy tales named 'The Jataka Tales'. It is still in print though difficult to track down.

Answer: Bordeaux

Noor and her family were lucky to escape from France. As they held British passports, they were able to leave on the last British ship from Bordeaux.

Answer: WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force)

Noor joined the WAAF, training as a wireless operator. Amongst the skills she learnt was that of Morse code, which was to be essential for her work in France. This, along with her fluent French, made her very valuable.

Answer: SOE (Special Operations Executive)

After working as a signals operator for several months, Noor became bored and applied for a commission. It is during this process that she came to the attention of the SOE (France) branch who were just beginning to train female operatives. One of the criteria that they searched for was the ability to speak French as a native speaker. Noor certainly fitted this criterion as she was raised in France.

Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister, was opposed to the idea of using women as undercover operatives, but it was done nevertheless.

Answer: Yes

There were concerns about Noor's emotional stability during her training. One activity was a mock interrogation, to help operatives appreciate the difficulties that they faced. Her examiner reported that she was 'blanched' and 'shaking' at the end of this process.

As the SOE were short of trained operatives, it was important to get as many people into France as possible. As a result, her training was cut short and she was 'dropped' into France on 16/17 June 1943.

Answer: Yes

Unfortunately, Noor did not last very long in the field. Her network was infiltrated by the Nazis quite early and she was the last of her network to be captured. It is believed that she was betrayed by either a double agent (Henri Dericourt) or by the sister of a Prosper network member (Renee Gary).

Her story was later pieced together by Vera Atkins, who worked for Colonel Buckmaster, the Commander of the French section of the SOE. Sarah Helm has written a book outlining Vera Atkins and her determination to track down the women who disappeared in France ('A Life in Secrets').

Answer: Yes

Unfortunately, Noor kept a copy of all her transmissions in a notebook. One theory is that she misunderstood an order to 'file' all communications. The Germans were then able to use this notebook to transmit false messages as Noor. Even though there were annomalies in the messages, including a code that Noor was told to use in the event of capture, London did not investigate these anomalies and this probably led to the capture and death of more operatives.

Answer: Yes

The Gestapo responsible for capturing and interrogating Noor reported that she put up a struggle upon her arrest. She consistently refused to respond to interrogation and once attempted escape with two other captured British operatives. When she refused to sign an agreement not to attempt any more escapes, she was transferred to a prison in Germany.

Answer: Dachau

Noor, along with three other captured SOE operatives was executed at Dachau concentration camp on September 12, 1944. It is rumoured that Noor's last word was 'Liberté'. It took several years for her full story to be pieced together and for Noor to be identified as one of the four operatives executed at Dachau. There is a memorial plaque located in Dachau commerating Noor and her colleagues (Madeleine Damerment, Yolande Beekman and Elaine Plewman).