NARRATOR: NYU professor Dr.
Timothy Naftali is a leading
expert on Nazi plunder.
Today he's gotten
a rare opportunity
to visit what might be the
Nazis' favorite hiding spot
for their secrets stolen goods.
TIMOTHY NAFTALI: Today I'm two
hours outside of Frankfurt.
I'm headed to Merkers Mine
to see where the Nazis put
the gold that they had
plundered from Europe
at the end of World War II.
NARRATOR: The town of Merkers
is still home to a working salt
and potassium mine.
And just like in 1945,
the Nazis' secret treasure
room is not easily accessible.
The journey starts with
a 2,000-foot descent
in the mine's industrial lift.
 When you descend
in the elevator,
you have this sense
of claustrophobia.
And when you leave
the entry way,
you have a sense that you're
completely locked away.
NARRATOR: Dr. Naftali
has never had the chance
to visit this site before.
Luckily, he has the
advantage of a mining truck
and a driver who knows the way.
A visitor in 1945
could have spent
years wandering these
tunnels without ever
finding the stolen gold.
TIMOTHY NAFTALI: Here
we are 500 meters
down, traveling in a truck.
It's very dark.
There are 30 kilometers of
passageways in this mine.
You could take the
map of this mine
and put it over
the map of Leipzig,
a large city in Germany.
That's how extensive
the mine is.
NARRATOR: Dr.
Naftali has finally
reached a nondescript
entrance to the room the Nazis
simply called number eight.
Behind this door sat
one of the greatest
treasure hordes ever assembled.
75 feet wide and 150 feet long,
with 12-foot-high ceilings
and its own tram railway
leading in and out,
this space once contained
the lion's share of Nazi
Germany's secret wealth.
 I could see why the Nazis had
selected this place because I
don't know how anyone
without a little bit of luck
could have found it.
NARRATOR: But how did the
Allies find this room, thousands
of feet below ground, along
one of the near infinite
series of tunnels?
Actually, it was
completely by accident.
 Two French women
told American soldiers
that they had seen
sacks of money
being taken out of the mine.
Well, at that point the
US Army took notice.
[ARTILLERY FIRE]
NARRATOR: But the Nazis wouldn't
give up their secret treasure
so easily.
[EXPLOSIONS]
There was an intense
battle before the US
took control of the
mine and discovered
the door of room number eight.
Fearing the door would
be booby trapped,
troops blew a hole in the wall.
It wasn't until the dust settled
that they realized the enormity
of their discovery.
 US soldiers come
into this room,
and they discover 8,198
of these gold bars.
NARRATOR: But despite all
of the meticulous oversight,
it's here that the true mystery
begins because, as it turns
out, the secret
treasurer of Merkers Mine
was quite a bit
lighter than expected.
 The fact of the matter
is the sums don't add up,
and there still is
some mystery as to what
happened to all of that gold.
It is estimated that the
Nazis stole $598 million--
this is 1945 dollars--
worth of gold.
What was found here
was not all of it.
NARRATOR: The gold
stored at Merkers Mine
was worth about $250 million
in 1945, less than half
of the alleged
$598 million total.
So where was the rest of it?
 The fact of the matter is,
we don't know where all of it
went.
