Bethnal Green And The Story That Winston Churchill Pushed Underground

On March 3rd 1943, 173 people perished on the steps of Bethnal Green tube station in East London, crushed to death as they tried to get to the safety of the underground station which was being used as a make-shift bunker during World War II. As it would turn out, the siren which sent the people of the East End fleeing to the safety of the station, was not in fact an air raid siren but merely an anti-aircraft battery from nearby Victoria Park, a misconception which would see almost two hundred men, women and children losing their lives.

Although, by the following morning, a nearby church, having become a make-shift morgue, was filled with bodies of the victims, and the people of Bethnal Green frantically searched for loved ones, not a single mention of the tragedy appeared in the following day’s newspapers.

On hearing of the tragedy, Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, ordered that the news was not to be reported in the media for fear that it would irreparably damage the morale of the British people which was, after weeks of bombing raids, already dangerously low. The people of the East End were also ordered not to speak of the incident and so they complied, quietly going about the business of pulling bodies from the station and beginning the process of identifying them and notifying the families of the deceased.

In today’s world where news is almost instant and available at the tap of a screen, it’s almost impossible to believe that it would be months before news of such magnitude reached the people of Great Britain and the people of the East End were finally able to publicly grieve and pay tribute to their loved ones.

Today, there is a memorial, named Stairway To Heaven, to the victims – some of which included almost whole families – in Bethnal Green Gardens and a memorial was held on the 70th anniversary attended by local people as well as East End celebrities such as Barbara Windsor who hails from Bethnal Green.

Although primarily a work of fiction, Nicci Rae’s novel ‘Beth Green’ centres around the tragedy and the subsequent radio silence in a gripping tale which flits between the Bethnal Green of today and that fateful day in 1943.

For more information on the Bethnal Green memorial, see https://www.facebook.com/bethnalgreenmemorial/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

To buy ‘Beth Green’ by Nicci Rae visit: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M647KDJ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1476613951&sr=8-4&keywords=nicci+rae