FOR seventy years, the story of Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan, a Muslim woman who was a World War II British spy, was consigned to the scrap heap of history. This year, a 60-minute docudrama, “Enemy of the Reich: The Noor Inayat Khan Story” premiered in the US. Narrated by Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren, the documentary recounts the heroine's ordeal through dramatised reenactments and interviews with experts, including Noor's two nephews. Indian-American actress Grace Srinivasan, a 2013 graduate of George Washington University, played Noor perfectly. The documentary was shot in 11 days in Baltimore.
Noor Inayat Khan had royal pedigree. Her father, Hazrat Inayat Khan was a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the famous ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in the 18th century. Born in 1882 in Gujarat, Khan left India in 1910 and travelled the world teaching Sufi Islam.  While in New York, he fell in love with Ora Baker, the half sister of American scholar Pierre Bernard, her guardian at that time. As Bernard refused consent to their marriage, they went to Europe and married. Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow on January 2, 1914.
After World War I broke out, they left for London. Noor attended nursery in Notting Hill.  Khan and Ora Baker (Ameena Begum) had three more children: Vilayat (1916), Hidayat (1917) and Khair-un-Nisa (1919). In 1920, they relocated to a suburban Paris house, a gift from Khan's Sufi patron.
Hazrat Inayat Khan died on a visit to India in 1927, sending Ameena Begum into deep depression. Barely 13, quiet and shy Noor grew up fast and cared for her grief-stricken mother and siblings. She studied child psychology at the Sorbonne, and music at the Paris Conservatory, composing for harp and piano. She wrote poetry, and contributed regularly to children's magazines and French radio. She published “Twenty Jataka Tales” in 1939.
After Germany overran France, the Khans fled to Bordeaux, crossed the English Channel and landed in Falmouth on June 22, 1940. Although Noor's upbringing was pacifist, she decided to fight the Nazis, saying: “I wish some Indians would win high military distinction in this war. If one or two could do something in the Allied service which was very brave and which everybody admired, it would help to make a bridge between the English people and the Indians.”
She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) on November 19, 1940, and was sent for training as a wireless operator. Noor had “difficulty” learning the codes, which the prejudiced espionage establishment attributed to her not being “overburdened with brain!” The truth was different. As a Muslim woman, Noor was taught never to lie. She was unwilling to send false messages. A young man, who had a crush on her, was assigned the task of working with Noor. He convinced her that unless she sent the codes exactly as written, innocent people were going to die. That did the trick!
Because of her French upbringing, Noor was assigned to the French Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), and underwent rigorous training. Cryptonymed “Madeleine,” Noor was flown to northern France at night to a French Resistance landing strip on June 16, 1943. She and two other women were met by Henri Dericourt and escorted to Paris. They joined the underground Physician's network, codenamed Prosper.
Within six weeks, all Physician network radio operators except Noor were arrested by Gestapo along with hundreds of Resistance Prosper members. For her safety, the head of French Section asked Noor to return to England. She refused. As the only remaining wireless operator in Paris, at enormous personal risk, Noor continued to transmit messages to London from the dwindling Prosper agents. Noor was now the most wanted British agent in Paris. Gestapo distributed her sketches and was looking for her everywhere.
With wireless detection vans in hot pursuit, Noor could only transmit 20 minutes at a time. She moved constantly, evading capture while maintaining vital communication with London: “She refused to abandon what had become the most important and dangerous post in France and did excellent work.” She was on her own for three months.
Noor was betrayed to Gestapo by suspected double agents Henri Dericourt or Renee Garry. Reportedly, Renee Garry, who was paid 100,000 francs, was furious at Noor because SOE agent France Antelme had dumped her for Noor. Noor was arrested on October 13, 1943 and interrogated for months at Gestapo headquarters in Paris.  
Unlike fellow arrestees, Noor did not divulge any secrets to Gestapo. She fought so fiercely that they labeled her an extremely dangerous prisoner. When Noor was forced to send a message to London by Gestapo, she slipped in a 18-character word that should have alerted London that she was compromised. That message never reached her supervisor. Double agents were not exclusive to France! For a long time Gestapo continued to send bogus messages under the name “Madeleine,” which cost some lives.
Noor and two fellow prisoners escaped through the roof on November 25, 1943. But, there was an air raid siren just as they got out and they were captured in the vicinity.  After Noor refused to renounce future escape attempts, she was placed in solitary confinement, shackled to the floor for ten months, and almost certainly sexually abused.  Then the death sentence arrived from Berlin: Noor was to be treated as “Nacht und Nebel” (Night and Fog) prisoner condemned for “Disappearance without Trace.” Noor, 30, was taken to Dachau concentration camp near Munich, and in the early hours of September 13, 1944 executed by a bullet through her head. Noor's last word was: “liberte!”  
Noor Inayat Khan was posthumously awarded the French Croix de Guerre avec etoile de vermeil, and Britain's highest award for gallantry George Cross in 1949.  In 2012 Princess Anne unveiled Noor's bronze bust in Gordon Square Gardens -- the first memorial to any Muslim or Asian woman in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron praised Noor for her “bravery,” “indomitable courage” and “inspirational self-sacrifice.” On March 25, 2014, the Royal Mail issued a stamp commemorating Noor Inayat Khan.
The Germans have done nothing. Is it too much to ask the German government: Wie Ware Es Mit Einem Denkmal Noor? (How about a monument for Noor?)

The writer is a Rhodes Scholar.