Code Name Madeleine: A Sufi Spy in Nazi-Occupied Paris

Today’s post is on Code Name Madeleine: A Sufi Spy in Nazi-Occupied Paris by Arthur J. Magida. 306 pages long and is published by W.W. Norton and company. The cover is a rust colored photograph of a woman walking away from the camera and towards the Eiffel Tower. The intended reader is someone who is interested in War World 2 history and forgetting women’s history. There is no foul language, no sex, and some violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the inside of the book- Noor Inayat Khan, secret agent for the British in occupied France.

During the critical summer months of 1943, Noor Inayat Khan was the only wireless operator transmitting secret messages from Nazi occupied France to the Special Operations Executive in England. She was a most unlikely spy. As the daughter of an Indian Mystic, raised in a household devoted to peaceful reflection on the outskirts of Paris, Khan did not seem destined for wartime heroism. Yet, faced with the evils of Nazism, she could not look away. She volunteered to help the British; was trained in espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance; and returned to France under the cover of night with a new identity and a code name: Madeline.

Khan transmitted countless details crucial to the  allies' success on D-Day, until she was captured and imprisoned by the Gestapo. She attempted to daring Escape before being sent to prison in Germany. Three months after the Allied invasion of France she was executed at Dachau. Her last word was liberte.

Review- Inspiring story of a woman who when faced with the choice between her values and the lives of others she managed to find a way to satisfy both. Noor  was a child of privilege, given access to knowledge, teachers, and the truly impressive things in life.  There was no reason for her to volunteer to be dropped into France to be a wireless operator when all of the others have been hunted down and killed. But Noor refuse to back down when she looked and said that  evil was being done and she could not turn away.  So she went into France and for almost six months played a dangerous cat and mouse game with the Gestapo, but eventually they caught her and eventually they killed her. Like all World War II Memoirs of people fighting to survive, fighting to see better days, this is both inspiring and incredibly tragic. Noor had family waiting for her, had plans for the future, but just like millions of others that future life was taken away from her. But they never broke her spirit and that is something we can all take away from her life and her struggle. An inspirational if sad World War II memoir that is well-researched and well worth reading just to continue to shine light on women's work during the war. 

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I was given a copy of this book as a gift.