Memories fresh for witness of Hitler's last days

BERLIN, June 13 (Reuters) There is nothing left of the underground bunker where Hitler committed suicide.

But for former SS officer Rochus Misch, the memories are still fresh, more than 60 years after the end of World War Two.

''There was a little working room, a living room, bedroom, toilet and shower and there was no more,'' said the last surviving witness to the final two weeks of Adolf Hitler's life, referring to the Nazi leader's underground quarters.

Gazing at the carpark which now covers the bunker, Misch recalled his time as a member of the Fuehrer's close entourage in the days leading up to April 30, 1945.

The 88-year-old, who still lives in Berlin, served Hitler throughout World War Two as a bodyguard and telephonist.

But as the Third Reich came to an end, Hitler withdrew to the underground shelter beneath his chancellery and dismissed most of his staff, retaining only those whose services were considered essential -- including Misch.

''We were expecting it. Hitler let us go on April 22. I was here in Berlin ... and we stuck it out until April 30,'' he said.

Misch's account of Hitler's last days is worn smooth from years of retelling. His answers to questions sometimes run off at a tangent but his feelings -- particularly about the subsequent portrayal of the events of that spring -- are clear.

''Hitler was not, as the press writes, from February on down here vegetating,'' he says. ''He always came out and went up to his apartment in the flat and I went to my room.

''He came down when there was an air raid warning and so I came down too.'' Hitler's bride, Eva Braun, whom he married two days before their deaths, also moved into the bunker, Misch says.

''(In the last few weeks) Eva came and then they stayed down there for the last 12 days.'' WITNESS TO THE END Dressed in an anorak, cardigan and black jeans, Misch faced a barrage of reporters at the bunker site when a local history society unveiled the first sign indicating the location of the shelter.

''Herr Misch is the last one still living who spent the last 15 days in the bunker and experienced the end,'' said historian Dietmar Arnold, head of the Berlin Underworlds organisation which was responsible for the sign.

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