Career
Prassek was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011. 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.
He also established contact with forced labourers, and learned the Polish language in order to assist in his ministry work with them. The four priests spoke publicly against the Nazis – initially discreetly – distributing pamphlets to friends and congregants.
They copied and distributed the anti-Nazi sermons of Bishop August von Galen of Munster. Then, following a March 28, 1942 Royal Air Force air raid, after which Stellbrink tended wounded, he delivered a Palm Sunday sermon which attributed the bombing to divine punishment.
Stellbrink was arrested, followed by the three Catholic priests.
Prassek had been denounced by a Gestapo informer. Resigned to martyrdom, Prassek wrote to his family: "Who can oppress one who dies".