MATTHIAS RUST--A MAN WHO FULFILLED HIS DESTINY AND HELPED END THE COLD WAR
By Kevin Stoda, American Educator for Peace
I was living in West Germany the month that a 19-year from the city state of Hamburg almost single-handedly toppled the Soviet Union--and he did it without firing a weapon. The young hero of the Cold War was Mathias Rust.
Naturally, many people in Europe and I at the time felt that the young man was wacky--an out-of-control idealist. On the other hand, at other times, we also suspected that this young pilot, who flew a plane from Germany (via Finland) and on to Moscow's Red Square back in May 1968, must have been paid by the West and its secret agencies to push the envelope into.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aerA5oLif3k
We misjudged the young man.
THE BIG STORY YOU NEED IN YOUR HISTORY BOOK
On May 28, 1987, according to Wikipedia, "an amateur aviator, " [Mathias Rust] flew from Finland to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors. The Soviet fighters never received permission to shoot him down, and several times he was mistaken for a friendly aircraft. He landed on Vasilevski Spusk next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the USSR."
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