Johannes Prassek

Johannes Prassek (13 August 1911 – 10 November 1943) was a German Catholic priest, and one of the Lübeck martyrs, guillotined for opposing the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler in 1943. Prassek was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.

Biography Born in Barmbek, Prassek came from a working class Hamburg family, and financially struggled through his studies in theology. Ordained a priest at Osnabrück in 1937, he became a chaplain at Lübeck in 1939. A popular pastor, Prassek, impressed his congregation with his sermons, and work with young people. Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime was governing Germany, and in his theological discussion groups, Prassek often openly spoke of irreconcilable contradictions between Catholicism and Nazi ideology. He also established contact with forced labourers, and learned the Polish language in order to assist in his ministry work with them. They copied and distributed the anti-Nazi sermons of Bishop Clemens August von Galen of Münster.