The 18th-century descendant of Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, Noor Inayat Khan, has now become the only woman of Indian origin to be commemorated on French postage stamps due to her contribution to the Resistance as an undercover British agent during the Second World War.
France’s national postal service, La Poste, has issued a special stamp in her honour as part of its “Figures of the Resistance” series, marking 80 years since the end of the war. Noor is one of dozens of Resistance heroes and heroines commemorated in the set of stamps released this month.
Shrabani Basu, who wrote the biography Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, welcomed the tribute, saying:
“I am delighted that France has honoured Noor Inayat Khan with a postage stamp, especially as it comes on this important 80th anniversary of the end of the war. Noor sacrificed her life in the fight against fascism. She grew up in Paris, joined the war effort in England, and it is wonderful to see her face on a postage stamp that will be posted by ordinary people in France.”
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Each of the stamps has been designed to commemorate a historical figure. The stamp of Noor showcases her in a British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) uniform. Basu added that Britain had marked the centenary of Noor’s birth with its own commemorative stamp in 2014 and further stated that it was time India, the country of her ancestors, honoured her with a postage stamp as well.
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Who Was Noor Inayat Khan — What Did She Do?
Born Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan in Moscow in 1914 to an Indian Sufi father and an American mother, Noor spent her early years in London before moving to Paris for schooling. When France fell to Nazi Germany, she and her family fled to England, where she joined the WAAF.
She was recruited into the Special Operations Executive (SOE) on February 8, 1943, becoming the first woman radio operator to be sent into France. Arrested by Nazi forces later that year, she was eventually deported to the Dachau concentration camp. For her extraordinary courage, Noor was posthumously awarded the French Resistance Medal, Croix de Guerre, and Britain’s George Cross in 1949.
The new French stamp celebrates her acts of bravery:
“These men and women who said ‘no’ became involved in intelligence networks, exfiltration, sabotage… Risking their lives, they saved the country’s honour and placed it on the winning side,” reads the statement accompanying the release.