{{Short description|German politician (1902–1997)}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2006-1009-500, Archim Gercke.jpg|thumb|Achim Gercke in 1933]] '''Achim Gercke''' (3 August 1902 – 27 October 1997) was a [[Germans|German]] politician.

Born in [[Greifswald]], Gercke was the son of the classical philologist [[Alfred Gercke]]. After pursuing an academic career, he became a department head of the [[Nazi Party|NSDAP]] in [[Munich]] on 1 January 1932. In April 1933 he was appointed to the [[Ministry of the Interior]], where he served as an expert on racial matters.<ref>[[Claudia Koonz]], ''The Nazi Conscience'', p. 166, {{ISBN|0-674-01172-4}}.</ref> In November 1933, he was elected to the ''[[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]]'' from electoral constituency 2 ([[Berlin (electoral district)|Berlin]]).<ref>[https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/selectmaske.html?name=Gercke&geschlecht=&ort=&beruforg=&BERUF=&BERUFSFELDER%5B%5D=&KONFESSION%5B%5D=&WP%5B%5D=&PARTEI%5B%5D=&schlu=reichstag24&recherche=ja Achim Gercke] in the [https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/ ''Reichstag'' Members Database]</ref>

Gercke devised the system of "racial prophylaxis", forbidding the intermarriage between [[Jews]] and [[Aryan race|Aryans]]. As a student, he had attempted to develop a card index listing all Jews in Germany. His articles outlined Nazi policy on what to do to the Jews during the early phase of the [[Third Reich]], which included expulsion from Germany. He described the just-enacted [[Nuremberg Laws]] restricting Jews as provisional measures, which indicated the direction future measures would take. Gercke argued for defining "Jew" as including any person with one-sixteenth Jewish blood.<ref>Claudia Koonz, ''The Nazi Conscience'', p. 171, {{ISBN|0-674-01172-4}}.</ref> Later in 1942, the [[Wannsee Conference]] ultimately defined "Jew" quite differently: Persons having one Jewish grandparent were mostly excluded and even certain persons with two Jewish grandparents might be excluded, if they followed the Christian faith.{{sfn|Roseman|2003|pp=116-119}}

In 1932, Nazi Gauleiter [[Rudolf Jordan (politician)|Rudolf Jordan]] claimed that SS Security Chief [[Reinhard Heydrich]] was not a pure "Aryan". Within the Nazi organisation such innuendo could be damning, even for the head of the Reich's counterintelligence service. [[Gregor Strasser]] passed the allegations on to Achim Gercke who investigated Heydrich's genealogy.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=61}} Gercke reported that Heydrich was "...&nbsp;of German origin and free from any coloured and Jewish blood". He insisted that the rumours were baseless.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=61}}{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=38}} Even with this report, Heydrich privately engaged SD member Ernst Hoffman to further investigate and deny the rumours.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2011|p=61}}

In April 1935, Gercke was dismissed from his offices and expelled from the ''Reichstag'' following allegations of [[homosexuality]]. After the war, he worked as an archivist and town clerk.<ref>German version of this page</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book | last = Gerwarth | first = Robert | authorlink = Robert Gerwarth | year = 2011 | title = Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven, CT | isbn = 978-0-300-11575-8 }} * {{cite book | last = Roseman | first = Mark | year = 2003 | title = The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution: A Reconsideration | publisher = Picador | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-312-42234-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/wannseeconferenc00rose }} * {{cite book | last = Williams | first = Max | year = 2001 | title = Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography, Volume 1—Road To War | publisher = Ulric Publishing | location = Church Stretton | isbn = 978-0-9537577-5-6 }} *''The Order of the Death's Head'', by Heinz Hoehne, pg. 161–162 *''The Course of Modern Jewish History'', by Howard M. Sachar pg. 517 *''Das Reichssippenamt. Eine Institution nationalsozialistischer Rassenpolitik'', by Diana Schulle [http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/type=rezbuecher&id=727&verlage=1028] *''The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution'', by Eric Ehrenreich {{refend}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gercke, Achim}} [[Category:1902 births]] [[Category:1997 deaths]] [[Category:German genealogists]] [[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936]] [[Category:Nazi Party officials]] [[Category:People from Greifswald]] [[Category:University of Freiburg alumni]]

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