# Achim Gercke

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German politician (1902–1997)

Achim Gercke in 1933

**Achim Gercke** (3 August 1902 – 27 October 1997) was a [German](/source/Germans) politician.

Born in [Greifswald](/source/Greifswald), Gercke was the son of the classical philologist [Alfred Gercke](/source/Alfred_Gercke). After pursuing an academic career, he became a department head of the [NSDAP](/source/Nazi_Party) in [Munich](/source/Munich) on 1 January 1932. In April 1933 he was appointed to the [Ministry of the Interior](/source/Ministry_of_the_Interior), where he served as an expert on racial matters.[1] In November 1933, he was elected to the *[Reichstag](/source/Reichstag_(Nazi_Germany))* from electoral constituency 2 ([Berlin](/source/Berlin_(electoral_district))).[2]

Gercke devised the system of "racial prophylaxis", forbidding the intermarriage between [Jews](/source/Jews) and [Aryans](/source/Aryan_race). 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](/source/Third_Reich), which included expulsion from Germany. He described the just-enacted [Nuremberg Laws](/source/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.[3] Later in 1942, the [Wannsee Conference](/source/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.[4]

In 1932, Nazi Gauleiter [Rudolf Jordan](/source/Rudolf_Jordan_(politician)) claimed that SS Security Chief [Reinhard Heydrich](/source/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](/source/Gregor_Strasser) passed the allegations on to Achim Gercke who investigated Heydrich's genealogy.[5] Gercke reported that Heydrich was "... of German origin and free from any coloured and Jewish blood". He insisted that the rumours were baseless.[5][6] Even with this report, Heydrich privately engaged SD member Ernst Hoffman to further investigate and deny the rumours.[5]

In April 1935, Gercke was dismissed from his offices and expelled from the *Reichstag* following allegations of [homosexuality](/source/Homosexuality). After the war, he worked as an archivist and town clerk.[7]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Claudia Koonz](/source/Claudia_Koonz), *The Nazi Conscience*, p. 166, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-674-01172-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-674-01172-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Achim Gercke](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) in the [*Reichstag* Members Database](https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Claudia Koonz, *The Nazi Conscience*, p. 171, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-674-01172-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-674-01172-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTERoseman2003116–119_4-0)** [Roseman 2003](#CITEREFRoseman2003), pp. 116–119.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGerwarth201161_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGerwarth201161_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEGerwarth201161_5-2) [Gerwarth 2011](#CITEREFGerwarth2011), p. 61.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEWilliams200138_6-0)** [Williams 2001](#CITEREFWilliams2001), p. 38.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** German version of this page

## Bibliography

- [Gerwarth, Robert](/source/Robert_Gerwarth) (2011). *Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich*. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-300-11575-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-300-11575-8).

- Roseman, Mark (2003). [*The Wannsee Conference and the Final Solution: A Reconsideration*](https://archive.org/details/wannseeconferenc00rose). New York: Picador. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-312-42234-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-312-42234-9).

- Williams, Max (2001). *Reinhard Heydrich: The Biography, Volume 1—Road To War*. Church Stretton: Ulric Publishing. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9537577-5-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/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 [\[1\]](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

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