End of a Legend

AT last it is official. Almost 28 years to the day after Martin Bormann disappeared in a swirl of Soviet artillery fire in the ruins of Berlin, 27 years after he was condemned to death by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, 23 years after he was reported to be alive in Russia, 21 years after he was said to be a monk in Italy, and less than half a year after Spy-Story Teller Ladislas Farrago claimed that he was still living as a millionaire in Argentina, a West German court last week formally pronounced the Nazi leader dead -along with all the rumors about his escape.

A skeleton unearthed last December half a mile from the site of Hitler's bunker was indisputably that of Bormann, said Horst Gauf, the Hesse state prosecutor whose office was in charge of the case. He said that bone and dental evidence made it a "certainty" that theoft-seen phantom had died in the fall of Berlin. He therefore ordered all search warrants quashed; any future reports that Bormann has been sighted will be officially ignored.

So if you're still hiding out there somewhere, Martin Bormann, it's safe to come home now.

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