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Article: Germany's Integration Lab; Soldiers of East, West Successfully Join Forces
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- May 12, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Five years ago, Lt. Andreas Zube and Lt. Col. Frank Kluemper
thought of each other as potential notches on a gun. Sworn enemies,
each had spent his professional life preparing to shoot the other
down in a swirling dogfight high above a bitterly divided Germany.
Today they are comrades, fighter pilots in a common squadron in
a common air force in a common country. Of 28 pilots now flying
Soviet-built MiG-29s at this air base two miles from the Polish
border, 14 once flew for the East German air force, including the
31-year-old Zube; the other 14 are veterans of West Germany's
Luftwaffe, including Kluemper, 38.
In a reunified Germany, where genuine unity tends to be more
mirage than ...