The Bishopsgate Goods Yard disaster — III

In neither of my recent posts on the 1918 Bishopsgate Goods Yard disaster did I mention the 1943 Bethnal Green Tube disaster, despite it being an obvious comparison (as well as showing up as a related post). The death toll was tragically high both times: 14 at Bishopsgate, a staggering 173 at Bethnal Green (in fact Britain’s largest civilian loss of life during the Second World War). Both occurred in the East End, only about a mile apart. Both were instances of stampedes by panicked civilians which took place during German air raids. In neither cases was the panic was caused by a German bomb falling nearby, but rather by the unexpected sound of British rockets (warning maroons in 1918; anti-aircraft rockets in 1943). And both were widely blamed on Jews. What is particularly interesting about this last point is that while nearly all of the Bishopsgate victims were Jewish (which, again, is not to ‘blame’ them or other Jewish people present for what happened to them), only a small…