Spy becomes first woman of south Asian descent to get blue plaque in London
L’espionne Noor Inayat Khan célébrée a Londres.
AAu Royaume-Uni, certaines maisons sont ornées d'une « plaque bleue », pour signaler qu'elles étaient un jour habitées par une personnalité connue. Récemment, la demeure d'une certaine Noor Inayat Khan a obtenu cette distinction. Cette espionne, ayant oeuvré pour l'Empire britannique lors de la seconde guerre mondiale, est la première femme asiatique à avoir son nom sur une plaque bleue. Découvrez l'histoire de cette figure historique méconnue.
spy who operated in occupied France for months during the second world war has become the first woman of south Asian descent to be given a blue plaque in London. Her former family home in Bloomsbury has been recognised by English Heritage after first being nominated 14 years ago.
2. The award came after work by a group that was set up in 2016 to address the lack of diversity in the scheme. When the working group began, only 33 of the more than 900 plaques were dedicated to black and Asian figures. Even now, only about 14% celebrate women. Anna Eavis, the curatorial director of English Heritage, said it was vital that a more diverse selection of blue plaques were awarded.
3. Khan’s biographer, Shrabani Basu, said the spy – who went by the codename Madeleine – was also a talented musician and a published children’s author before becoming an unlikely candidate for Britain’s “first Muslim war heroine in Europe”.
4. Basu said: “She was fluent in French, she knew the area, and she was a brilliant radio operator. So she went in under cover behind enemy lines and she worked there for three months setting up crucial links and sending information back to London.”
FAMOUS IN BRITAIN, AS WELL AS IN FRANCE!
5. Born in Russia to an Indian father and an American mother, Khan was a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the 18th-century Muslim ruler of Mysore, and spent the majority of her life in France. The country posthumously awarded her the French Croix de Guerre for her efforts behind enemy lines. “She’s highly decorated, but her story was forgotten,” said Basu.
6. Khan came to Britain with her family after France fell in November 1940. She became the first female radio operator and was sent into Nazi-occupied France by the Special Operations Executive. She was originally thought not best suited to life in the field because she was considered a “dreamer” and her superiors feared that her Sufi faith might mean she lacked a ruthless edge.
7. Basu said Khan’s allegiance to Britain was also questioned because of her family’s strong links to the Indian independence movement. But despite the doubts and dangers – radio operators were expected to last only six weeks in the field because it was so difficult – Khan worked successfully for three months and was only captured by the Gestapo after being betrayed. She was kept in Pforzheim prison before being moved to Dachau concentration camp where she was executed in 1944.