Editing Bethnal Green (section)

===Second World War===
====The Blitz====
During the Second World War, the [[Luftwaffe]] began [[The Blitz]] on 7 September 1940. Bethnal Green was in "Target Area A" along with the rest of the [[East End of London]].<ref name="war">{{cite web|url=https://www.eastlondonhistory.co.uk/world-war-2-east-london|last=Oakley |first=Malcolm |title=World War 2 and East London |website=East London History |date=7 October 2013 |access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref>

Bethnal Green Library was bombed on the very first night of the Blitz. This forced the temporary relocation of the library into the unopened Bethnal Green Underground Station in order to provide continuity of lending services. The library was rebuilt and opened a few months later for the public.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/east-end-library-remembers-the-blitz-1-615178 |author=Julia Gregory |title=East End library remembers the Blitz |date=27 August 2010 |newspaper=Eastern Daily Press |location=Norwich |access-date=31 May 2019 |archive-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709155143/http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/east-end-library-remembers-the-blitz-1-615178 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Oxford House also had a major role, with some local residents fleeing into the house off Bethnal Green Road seeking shelter, this location was more attractive than the stables under the nearby [[Great Eastern Main Line]] arches. The Chief Shelter Welfare Officer at the time, Jane Leverson, is reported to have said that "people came to Oxford House not because it was an air raid shelter but because there they found happiness and a true spirit of fellowship".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordhouse.org.uk/the-blitz/ |title=The Blitz |publisher=Oxford House |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-date=9 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709184937/https://www.oxfordhouse.org.uk/the-blitz/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

It is estimated that during this war, 80&nbsp;tons of bombs fell on the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green, affecting 21,700 houses, destroying 2,233 and making a further 893 uninhabitable. There were a total of 555 people killed and 400 seriously injured.<ref name=BG>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22753 ''Bethnal Green: Building and Social Conditions from 1915 to 1945'', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 132–135] accessed: 10 October 2007.</ref> Many unexploded bombs remain in the area, and on 14 May 2007, builders discovered a Second World War 1 m long {{convert|500|lb|abbr=on}} [[bomb]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6660391.stm|title=Families kept away by World War II bomb|work=BBC News|date=16 May 2007|access-date=16 May 2007}}</ref>

====Bethnal Green tube disaster====
[[File:Bethnal Green stn memorial plaque.JPG|thumb|right|Plaque to the 1943 disaster]]

On 3 March 1943, an [[air raid warning]] sounded at 8:17 pm, causing a flow of people down the narrow staircase, with no handrail, of the uncompleted [[Bethnal Green tube station]], wet from rain and only dimly lit due to blackout precautions, to shelter from bombs. (The station had been requisitioned in 1940 by the [[Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green]] under the supervision of the Regional Commissioners.) A [[crowd crush]] ensued, thought to have been triggered by a woman carrying a baby tripping on the stairs. A new anti-aircraft rocket being test-fired in nearby Victoria Park caused panic, being thought to be a German weapon.<ref name=thorpe>{{cite news| last=Thorpe | first=Vanessa | title='Not many people know what happened': covered up London Blitz tragedy is inspiration for Steve McQueen's new film |newspaper=The Observer| date=15 September 2024 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/sep/15/not-many-people-know-what-happened-covered-up-london-blitz-tragedy-is-inspiration-for-steve-mcqueens-new-film}}</ref> The panic began at 8:27.

In the wet, dark conditions, a woman tripped on the crowded stairs, causing many others to fall. Within a few seconds 300 people were crushed in the narrow stairwell, causing the deaths of 173 people, mostly women and 62 children, who were crushed and asphyxiated. A report was filed by Eric Linden, who witnessed the incident, with the ''[[Daily Mail]]'', but not published. Very little information was provided at the time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/09/a795909.shtml|author=Simon B|title=The Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster|publisher=BBC|date=29 July 2002|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.skibbereeneagle.ie/london-wunderground/bethnal-green-tube-disaster|newspaper=Skibbereen Eagle|title=Bethnal Green tube disaster|location=Skibbereen, Co. Cork|date=16 February 2010|archive-date=20 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620130925/http://www.skibbereeneagle.ie/london-wunderground/bethnal-green-tube-disaster/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://alondoninheritance.com/thebombedcity/bethnal-greens-ordeal-and-the-underground-shelter-disaster|last=A London Inheritance|title=Bethnal Green's Ordeal|date=6 May 2018|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref> The outcome of a government inquiry was not made public until 1946 to avoid a propaganda win for the enemy and to protect public morale.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/homefront/bombing/bethnal/source1.htm|last=National Archives|title=Why did the Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster happen?|access-date=20 June 2019}}</ref><ref name=thorpe/> It was the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://northshields173.org |last1=Bolger |first1=Peter |last2=Hepplewhite |first2=Peter |title=Lemonade factory air raid disaster 1941 |website=North Shields 173 |date=2019 |access-date=2 June 2019}}</ref>

Director [[Steve McQueen (director)|Steve McQueen]] made a 2024 film, ''Blitz'', about the wartime bombing of London ([[the Blitz]]), depicting and partly inspired by this event.<ref name=thorpe/>