episode
In August of 1943, the last surviving clandestine radio operator in Paris desperately signaled London. Everything depended on her and the Gestapo was at the door. How did a Sorbonne educated musician and author of a book of fairy tales become a daring spy who died fighting the Nazis? With an American mother and Indian Muslim father, Noor Inayat Khan was an extremely unusual British agent, and her life spent growing up in a Sufi center of learning in Paris seemed an unlikely preparation for the dangerous work to come. Yet it was in this place of universal peace and contemplation that her remarkable courage was forged. When the Nazi's invaded France, she joined Britain's Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and was recruited as spy, going to Paris to support the French Underground. For four crucial months, Noor was the only surviving radio operator in Paris, calling in the air-drop of weapons and supplies, and coordinating the rescue of downed allied fliers. She was ultimately betrayed by a French collaborator, and interrogated for months by the Gestapo. She never gave up any information, not even her real name, and she organized two breakouts from Gestapo headquarters. For this and the damage she did to the Nazis war efforts, she was executed in Dachau. 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of her birth.
