Max Joseph Jakob Pfannenstiel (25 July 1902 – 1 January 1976) was a German geologist, palaeontologist and librarian who spent some years in Turkey due to being classified as a 2nd-degree mixed-Jew during the early part of the Nazi regime.
In 1941 he returned to Germany where he joined military service (the rules about Jewish ancestry were changed in 1942) where his expertise on the Mediterranean was sought.
Geologist Julius Wilser questioned his appointment for being a "half-Jew" but an examination of the laws applicable showed that he could be employed and his old position as librarian at the University of Erlangen was restored.
He then joined the army and was involved in cartography and bathymetry of the Mediterranean in the Palestine and adjoining regions with the military geology department at Berlin-Wannsee.
[1] He examined sea level variations related to the Ice Age and was able to later suggest estimates of the extent of the Glacial cover in Europe.