The secret Nazi archive that documented the Holocaust
It is the largest Nazi archive in the world and, following the Allied victory in World War II, much of it remained hidden from public view, locked away for more than 60 years. Then in 2006, 60 Minutes traveled to Bad Arolsen, Germany, to see "Hitler's Secret Archive."
The sprawling facility houses millions of documents that provide a glimpse into the brutality of Nazi rule, and the suffering of the more than 17 million people persecuted during the Holocaust.
"To open the files is to see the Holocaust staring back like it was yesterday," 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said in the 2006 story.
The documents reveal meticulous notes that track the movement and information of Holocaust victims. For some, it reveals how they were spared by the Nazis. For others, it is an indelible confirmation of murder.
Some of the archive's documents have since been digitized.
When a 60 Minutes team visited the archive, they brought with them the first Holocaust survivors to see the contents of the facility.
"It makes me think back, and I'm living like there's this 14-year-old youngster and they wanted to kill him," said Holocaust survivor Miki Schwartz. "I don't know why. I did not ever do anything, any harm to anybody. I think I should have a middle name. My middle name to be Mr. Lucky."
On the more than 16 miles of shelving inside the German facility lay Oskar Schindler's list and documents that show Anne Frank's movement from Amsterdam to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after her capture.
Frank and her family are the subject of a new story that will air this Sunday on 60 Minutes. Correspondent Jon Wertheim traveled to the Netherlands to learn about the findings of a new investigation into who is believed to have ultimately betrayed Anne Frank and her family.
60 Minutes airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT on CBS.
The story above was produced by Michael Rosenbaum.
