Today: Headlines from April 16, 1925

“Today 100 Years Ago” – Rewinding to 16 April 1925

April is blossoming here in 2025, but let’s set our clocks back exactly one century to a world still licking its wounds from the Great War, experimenting with radio, and edging nervously toward the turbulences of the 1930s. Two very different headlines dominated newspapers on 16 April 1925: a shocking act of terror in Bulgaria and a political turning point in Germany.

1. Terror Strikes at St Nedelya Church, Sofia

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Funerals are supposed to be solemn, safe spaces. On this Thursday in 1925, mourners packed St Nedelya, a handsome domed church in downtown Sofia, to pay last respects to General Konstantin Georgiev. Unknown to most, members of the Bulgarian Communist Party’s Military Organization had spent weeks hollowing out the church’s roof beams and packing them with 25 kilograms of explosives.

• At 3:20 p.m., as the service began, the bomb detonated. • The roof collapsed in a deafening roar heard across the capital. • Result: more than 150 dead and over 500 injured – the deadliest terrorist act in Europe at the time.

Tsar Boris III and much of Bulgaria’s leadership, the intended targets, survived only because they were running late. The government responded with a brutal crackdown; hundreds of suspected leftists were executed in the following days, and the Communist Party was driven underground for years.

💭 2025 Lens: Sadly, mass-casualty terror is something our generation knows too well, but the St Nedelya bombing reminds us how early the playbook of asymmetric violence was being written. Today Sofia’s rebuilt cathedral stands serene, its restored frescoes bathed in LED light, yet the memorial plaques whisper a warning that still feels current.

2. Hindenburg Steps Back into the Arena

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While Sofia counted its dead, Berlin’s newspapers carried a headline of a different sort: 77-year-old Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg formally accepted the right-wing coalition’s nomination for President of the Weimar Republic.

• Two weeks earlier, the first direct German presidential election had produced no majority; the liberal frontrunner withdrew, opening the door for the old war hero. • On 26 April, Hindenburg would win, promising “order and stability.” • Historians now see 16 April as the day a weary public pinned its hopes on nostalgia – a decision that, eight years later, helped Adolf Hitler into power when Hindenburg appointed him chancellor.

💭 2025 Lens: Germany is today a cornerstone of the European Union and, ironically, one of the loudest defenders of constitutional checks and balances. The lesson from 1925 still resonates: charisma and a famous mustache are poor substitutes for democratic guardrails.

Closing Thought

Looking back at these two headlines, we see a Europe struggling with extremes – bombs aimed at the state in Bulgaria, and the state turning to a symbol of militarism in Germany. A century later, our challenges look high-tech and global, yet the underlying questions – security vs. freedom, nostalgia vs. progress – haven’t aged a day. Stay curious, and stay vigilant.