This Week 100 Years Ago: Headlines from 05 11, 2025

Time-Travelling Headlines

Welcome back to “This Week 100 Years Ago,” where we set our smartwatch for 2025 but our imagination for 1925. Exactly a century ago the world was wrestling with post-war recovery, flirting with modern design, and watching new political faces step onto history’s stage.

1️⃣ Berlin, 12 May 1925 – Hindenburg Takes the Helm

[STORY_1_IMAGE]

The bells of the Reichstag rang out on 12 May 1925 as 77-year-old Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was sworn in as President of the Weimar Republic.

• • A hero of World War I, Hindenburg was seen by many Germans as a stabilising father figure after years of inflation and political street fights.
• • Yet his monarchist leanings made liberals nervous, and his distrust of parliamentary democracy would later open the door to darker forces.

2025 Lens:
Today Germany’s president wields mostly ceremonial power, and Berlin is a symbol of stable European democracy. Looking back, it is chilling to realise that Hindenburg’s pen would, eight years later, sign the decree that made Adolf Hitler chancellor. It’s a sober reminder that charismatic “saviours” can reshape constitutions as easily as social-media influencers bend hashtags.

2️⃣ Paris, 10-11 May 1925 – Art Deco’s World Fair in Full Bloom

[STORY_2_IMAGE]

Spring sunshine glinted off chrome trim and zig-zag motifs along the Seine as crowds poured into the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.

• • Opened just two weeks earlier (28 April 1925), the show was already the talk of Europe by 11 May.
• • Pavilions from 20+ nations flaunted lacquered furniture, bold geometric typography, and the newest luxury: electrical gadgets meant for ordinary homes.
• • Though nobody called it “Art Deco” yet—that nickname would catch on later—the expo crystallised the style that would define jazz-age elegance from skyscrapers to cigarette cases.

2025 Lens:
Fast-forward a hundred years and Paris is hosting climate-tech summits inside those very exhibition halls. Where 1925 visitors gasped at electric toasters, 2025 crowds check the carbon footprint of their croissants. Still, the allure of good design endures; today’s sleek smartphones trace a design lineage that runs straight through those gilded, zig-zag archways.

Why These Moments Matter

In one week of 1925, Europe showcased two very different faces: Berlin’s conservative nostalgia and Paris’s futuristic glamour. Together they capture the tension of the 1920s—caught between the past’s unresolved wars and the future’s dazzling promises—much like our own moment balances retro revival trends with AI-powered everything.

Until next week, keep one eye on the past and another on the road ahead—history is always closer than it appears in the rear-view mirror!