Noor Inayat Khan | |
|---|---|
 Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, c. 1943 | |
| Other name(s) | Nora Baker Madeleine (SOE codename) Nurse (SOE callsign) Jeanne-Marie Renier (SOE alias) |
| Born | 1 January 1914 Moscow, Russian Empire |
| Died | 13 September 1944 (aged 30) Dachau concentration camp, Bavaria, Nazi Germany |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | Women's Auxiliary Air Force Special Operations Executive |
| Years of service | 1940–1944 |
| Rank | Assistant section officer |
| Unit | Cinema (SOE) |
| Battles / wars | Second World War |
| Awards | George Cross Mentioned in Despatches Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) |
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, GC (1 January 1914 – 13 September 1944), also known as Nora Inayat-Khan and Nora Baker, was a British resistance agent in France in the Second World War who served in the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in countries occupied by the Axis powers, especially those occupied by Nazi Germany.
As an SOE agent under the codename Madeleine she became the first female wireless operator to be sent from the UK into occupied France to aid the French Resistance during the Second World War.[1] Inayat Khan was betrayed and captured, and executed at Dachau concentration camp. She was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her service, the highest civilian decoration for gallantry in the United Kingdom.