A. During the early part of the war, when the extraordinary objection was introduced, that is, until approximately 1942, it was a very infrequent occurrence. It was altogether the exception that it was made. From that time onward, however, their number increased slowly, but I cannot even give a rough estimate as to the number of extraordinary objections that were ordered. Originally, the Ministry of Justice, if a report was made by me as to whether an extraordinary objection was to be made—for example, in the case of a sentence passed by the court of appeals—originally the ministry was agreeable to my using again and again the phrase that the sentence gave rise to misgivings on some points, but these points were by no means of such a serious nature that the unusual recourse of the extraordinary objection should be used. That became different only when the new chief of Department IV of the Ministry of Justice, Ministerialdirektor Vollmer, assumed office. I asked him about this one day, and inquired from him how it was that these days the Minister more frequently ordered an extraordinary objection to be made. In reply he said, since the Fuehrer decree of August 1942, Thierack had all authority in the field of the administration of justice and, therefore, in the sphere of the extraordinary objection, too, he had more scope than hitherto.

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DECREE OF 21 FEBRUARY 1940 CONCERNING THE NULLITY PLEA

1940 REICHSGESETZBLATT, PART 1, PAGE 405

Decree concerning the jurisdiction of the criminal courts, the Special Courts, and additional provisions of criminal procedure of 21 February 1940.

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Part V

Nullity Plea [Nichtigkeitsbeschwerde] of the Chief Reich Prosecutor

Article 34