[Article 35] “(1) The petition for nullification must be submitted in writing to the Supreme Court. This court will decide thereon by judgment based on a trial. With the consent of the chief public prosecutor it can also reach a decision without trial.
“2. The Supreme Court may order a postponement or an interruption of the execution. It may order arrest or internment even prior to the decision on the petition for nullification. The criminal senate (Strafsenat) composed of three members including the president, will decide thereon without a trial, with reservations as to the regulations of article 124, section 3 of the Reich Code of Criminal Procedure.”[628]
The speed with which the Special Courts acted is of significance. In view of the congested dockets of the Special Courts, Freisler, acting for the Minister of Justice, ordered, “a Special Court is, as a rule, to be considered overloaded if a monthly average of more than forty new indictments has been filed with it.”
On 4 December 1941, in the law against Poles and Jews, supra, it was provided:
“IV. The State prosecutor shall prosecute a Pole or a Jew if he considers that punishment is in the public interest.
“V. (1) Poles and Jews shall be tried by a Special Court or by the district judge.
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“VI. (1) Every sentence will be enforced without delay. The State prosecutor may, however, appeal from the sentence of a district judge to the court of appeal. The appeal has to be lodged within 2 weeks.
“(2) The right to lodge complaints which are to be heard by the court of appeal is reserved exclusively to the State prosecutor.
“VII. Poles and Jews cannot challenge a German judge on account of alleged partiality.