Archive.php, and post_is_in_descendant_category

Firstly, do you have DEBUG set to TRUE in wp-config? Not loading further than the header may well mean there’s an error that isn’t displaying. Set it to True to see the error.

Secondly, you are using for in_category on an archive page – which I believe would only apply to the first post on the page. This may not make a difference in your case though.

Third, I would not use the default archive for this at all. I would create a template specifically for this category: category-nytt.php (see template hierarchy). This will both let you dispose of all the in_category/post_is_in_descendant_category gubbins entirely, and leave your default archive.php (once restored) to work in the standard way for standard posts.

EDIT:

See the answer here for having subcategories use their parent’s template.