She who foxed the Gestapo

 

Why did a gentle, violin-playing poetess, daughter of a Sufi mystic, pack a pistol in her handbag and leave England to work as a secret agent in France during World War II? Why did a fiery idealist committed to Indian independence choose to support the Allied war effort against Germany? How did she meet her death in a concentration camp in Dachau?

 

Although the life of Noor Inayat Khan has been chronicled in two other accounts, Shrabani Basu’s book sets out to answer such questions and fill in several pieces of the jigsaw that add up to a far more comprehensive picture of a fascinating personality. Eschewing style for a more thorough and studied approach, Basu painstakingly went through several freshly unsealed papers on the Special Operations Executive (SOE) at the National Archives in London in 2003 to piece together this account of Noor, a descendant of Tipu Sultan.

 

For her outstanding bravery and valuable work as a radio operator, Noor was given the George Cross. In her honour, a French military band plays outside her childhood home in France on Bastille Day.

 

The life of a secret agent who has to live with a completely different identity is always riveting material. Basu’s book is rendered even more so because, like a skilful miniaturist, she paints in the tiniest details that help to explain her complex, multi-layered personality. Domestic drama is counterpoised against the larger backdrop of the tumultuous happenings in the world outside.

 

Affectionately called Babuli, Noor was the daughter of Inayat Kan, an Indian musician-mystic, and an American woman, Ora Ray Baker. Living first in Russia and then in Paris, Inayat Khan formalised his belief in the oneness of religion with special ceremonies in which the family participated. Significantly, Noor herself became a symbol of this universality by fighting for the French Resistance and the British despite her outspoken support for Indian nationalism. Even after Inayat Khan’s untimely death, music continued to dominate the house, with all of the children playing at least one or two instruments.

 

But even as Noor practiced the harp and piano, coped with an unhappy engagement, and dreamt of publishing a children’s newspaper, the swirling maelstrom in Europe engulfed her and her family’s lives. German guns pointed towards France and the children of pacifism decide to go to England to “thwart the aggression of the tyrant.” It is in England that the somewhat naïve but idealistic young woman made her metamorphosis into an intrepid spy. Picked by military intelligence because of her linguistic qualifications, Noor’s appointment was not without controversy. Labelled a “potty princess” with doubts cast over her inner toughness, Noor was nevertheless sent to France even before her training was over because of a dearth of radio operators. 

 

Basu’s book candidly examines the schisms and personality conflicts within the SOE and why the operations failed, with the Gestapo busting so many of the spy circuits. Amid all the arrests and nerve-wracking pressure, Noor displayed an awesome ability to outfox the Gestapo until she was betrayed. The accounts of her last few days and tragic denouement is pieced together after much detailed research and cross-reference.

 

In the end, we are left with an illuminating sketch of the life of a truly extraordinary person, one whose gentle beauty and courage shone even in the deepest darkness of Dachau.