Search for Names, Places and Biographies

Already layed Stumbling Stones


back to select list
Johannes Prassek
© Erzbistum Hamburg - Geschäftsstelle Lübecker Märtyrer

Johannes Prassek * 1911

Holstenglacis 3 (Untersuchungsgefängnis) (Hamburg-Mitte, Neustadt)

1942 verhaftet
enthauptet 10.11.1943

see:

further stumbling stones in Holstenglacis 3 (Untersuchungsgefängnis):
Heinz Jäkisch, Bernhard Jung, Karl-Heinz Keil, Hermann Lange, Eduard Müller, Johann Odenthal, Rudolf Schöning, Karl Friedrich Stellbrink, Walter Wicke, Walerjan Wróbel

Johannes Heinrich Wilhelm Prassek, born 13 Aug. 1911 in Hamburg, imprisoned 18 May 1942, executed 10 Nov. 1943 at Hamburg Remand Prison

Holstenglacis 3 (outside the prison)

On the brick wall that separates Holstenglacis Remand Prison from the ramparts, three memorial plaques have been hung in memory of the men and women who opposed the National Socialist regime, for which they were convicted and executed. "Under the rule of National Socialism from 1933 to 1945, nearly 300 individuals were beheaded in the courtyard of Holstenglacis Remand Prison. The women and men who took part in European resistance to German occupation and warfare were killed by guillotine.” One of those men was the Catholic priest Johannes Prassek.

Johannes Prassek grew up with two siblings in a Barmbek working-class family at Gerstenkamp 8. His family later moved to Sasel and lived at Grenzweg 22a (today Weidende). His mother Marie Anna Elise Hartmann (born 3 Dec. 1884) had come to Hamburg from Hagenow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1901. She was working as a maid at Grindelhof 69 for the real estate agent Benny Löwenstein when Johannes was born on 13 Aug. 1911. His father Johann Prassek (born 19 June 1886) came from Strandorf (today Strahovice), in the Upper Silesian district of Ratibor. He had lived in Hamburg since 1904 and earned a living as a bricklayer. When his parents wed on 19 June 1912 in Hamburg, his mother converted to Catholicism. Their daughter Emma Elise Maria had already arrived, she was born on 5 July 1910 in Hagenow. A further child, their son Paul was born on 23 Sept. 1917 in Hamburg.

Johannes Prassek started school at Easter in 1918 at the Catholic school on Elsastraße in Hamburg-Barmbek. After finishing elementary school he changed over to the Catholic Boys’ School Progymnasium. In 1927 he was admitted to the prestigious secondary school Gelehrtenschule of the Johanneum in Hamburg-Winterhude and graduated in 1931. He then studied theology at the philosophical-theological Jesuit Academy Sankt-Georg in Frankfurt on the Main. Although his studies were partially financed by the Bishop’s office in Osnabrück and the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Johannes Prassek still had to take on temporary work to get by. In 1933 he continued his studies in Münster where he joined the student association Unitas Ruhrania. On 22 Jan. 1934 his sister Emma died of tuberculosis, and on 10 Aug. 1935 his mother died of cancer at the age of 50.

Two years later, on 13 Mar. 1937, Johannes Prassek was ordained a priest in Osnabrück. First working in Wittenburg and Travemünde, in 1939 he then was sent to Lübeck as a vicar and one year later became a chaplain at the parish Herz-Jesu in Lübeck. Johannes Prassek was very popular. He especially impressed parishioners with his extraordinary sermons and work with young people. He led theological discussion groups where he openly emphasized the insurmountable contradictions between Catholic teachings and the ideology of National Socialism. He learned Polish so that he could provide forced laborers in Lübeck with spiritual succor. In the summer of 1941, he made the acquaintance of the Evangelic Pastor Karl Friedrich Stellbrink (see his entry) who was 17 years his senior. The two clergymen exchanged information they had learned from "enemy” radio broadcasts and decided to publish it in flyers. A young Gestapo informer, pretending to want to turn towards Catholicism denounced him, and as a consequence, Johannes Prassek was arrested on 18 May 1942 and taken to Marstall Prison at Burgkloster.

After nearly a year in custody, on 24 June 1943, Johannes Prassek and Karl Friedrich Stellbrink were sentenced to death along with two other indicted Catholic chaplains Hermann Lange (see his entry) and Eduard Müller (see his entry) by the People’s Court – the judges had journeyed from Berlin for their proceedings as it primarily presided over cases of treason – for "degradation of military strength” in connection with "treasonous aiding of the enemy” and "crimes in breach of radio law”. The four condemned men spent the last months of their lives in solitary confinement. The visitors they were allowed to see described their mood, however, as calm. "It has been a long time since I have lived so at peace and blessed, perhaps never, as now,” wrote Johannes Prassek. "I only have one concern: The conviction could possibly be overturned.” The four clergymen were executed on 10 Nov. 1943 at Holstenglacis Remand Prison by guillotine at four-minute intervals.

On the 60th anniversary of their execution, the process for beatification of Johannes Prassek, Eduard Müller and Hermann Lange was begun. His beatification took place on 25 June 2011 in front of the Herz Jesu Church in Lübeck. At the same time, the clergyman Karl Friedrich Stellbrink was also remembered in a ceremony. Two exhibitions and memorial plaques in Lübeck also bear witness to the executed men. An additional Stumbling Stone was laid on 15 Nov. 2007 in front of the Christus König Church at Bramstraße 105 in Osnabrück-Haste. Moreover, the youth center and parish house was also named after Johannes Prassek. In Hamburg-Barmbek the new park at Osterbekkanal also received his name in June 2011.

Translator: Suzanne von Engelhardt
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

Stand: May 2020
© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: StaH 242-1 II Gefängnisverwaltung II, Ablieferung 1998/1; StaH 351-11 AfW 8771 (Prassek, Johann); StaH 351-11 AfW 8772 (Prassek, Paul); StaH 332-5 Standesämter 6494 u 390/1912; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 7153 u 64/1934; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 7165 u 647/1935; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 1167 u 732/1943; Pelke: Christenprozess; Voswinkel: Geführte Wege; http://www.mattern-online.info/Stolpersteine/#3 (Zugriff 17.9.2015); Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand, http://www.gdw-berlin.de/ver tiefung/biografien/personenverzeichnis/biografie/view-bio/johannes-prassek/?no_cache=1 (Zugriff 16.3.2016); http://www.unitas-ruhrania.org/index.php?page=126 (Zugriff 16.3.2016); http://www.luebe ckermaertyrer.de/de/index.html (Zugriff 16.3.2016).

print preview  / top of page