During World War II the Nazies occupied Greece and Mount Athos, as mentioned before in this weblog (see categories “war“). It also gave Germans scholars the opportunity to do scientific investigations: the Byzantologist prof dr Dölger visited Athos in 1942 with a team. He published his expedition to Athos, together with many black and white pictures, in his book “Mönchsland Athos”, with the help of prof dr E. Weigand from Prag and A. Deindle from Berlin (see post 599).
Here are some more the pictures he published:
Dinner for laymen
Dinner for monks
Karyes
Karyes, main street
Karyes, mules gathering near the Protaton
Karyes, the photographer
Shop in Karyes
Taylor in Karyes
Monk and worker
four monks 
Panteleimonos in its full glory
A ‘siromahki – kissed by God’ (see 559)
Wim, 23/5
Please find below a slightly improved and extended version of my former commend on post 1399, so please ignore the other one.
As far as I know the expedtion of Franz Dölger (1891-1968), ‘Professor für Byzantinistik an der Universität München’, cum suis, of 1941 to the Holy Mountain was a strict scientific expedition, however it was executed under the authority of the creepy ‘Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg’ (ERR), a NSDAP pirate organisation for looting cultural treasures from the occupied territories. The expedition was under the supervision of the also creepy Lt Herrmann von Ingram, head of the ERR ‘Hauptabteilung III – Sonderaufgaben’ and the ‘Hauptabteilung IIIa – Organisation der Sicherstellung von jüdischem Besitz’ (sic!). The main object of the expedition was the study of ‘Urkunden’ (the specialty of Dölger) on Athos. However, the documents in question were photographed, not looted. The relationship between the members of the expedition and the monks was quite well.
By the way, the ERR had nothing to do with the pseudo-scientific ‘Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte’, later on better know as the SS-organisation ‘Forschungsgemeinschaft Deutsches Ahnenerbe e.V.’, the personal playground of Heinrich Himmler.
In the introduction of the book Mönchsland Athos one can read: ‘Die fachwissenschaftliche Auswertung des neugewonnenen Urkundenmaterials wird in einem besonderen ausfürlichen Bericht des ERR durch F. Dölger erfolgen. Die vorliegende Veröffentlichung [Mönchsland Athos – HO] hat zunächts den Zweck, einem weiteren Kreise in Bild und Wort eine Vorstellung von der eigenartigen Welt des Athos zu vermitteln’. Concerning the ‘besonderen ausfürlichen Bericht’, indeed, in 1948 Dölger published ‘Aus den Schatzkammern des Heiligen Berges, 115 Urkunden und 50 Urkundensiegel aus 10 Jahrhunderten’ (Im Auftrage und mit Unterstützung der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), a 363 pages book with a portfolio of 128 plates and facsims. Also, in 1949 Dölger published ‘Sechs byzantinische Praktika des 14. Jahrhunderts für das Athoskloster Iberon’.
But what was the relationship between Dölger and the nazi regime ? Well, because Dölger after te war received honorary doctorates from the universities of Athens, Thessaloniki and Sofia and in 1962 was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite, I don’t think Dölger was an (explicit) nazi. I think he just took his chanche in 1941.
A copy of Mönchsland Athos is in the collection of the Royal Library at The Hague, where I did lend it about 20 years ago. Now and then you can find a copy for sale of this interesting book on eBay.
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Recently the book was reprinted by Ariston Books of Lausanne