The war brought new and extraordinary procedures, as well as new crimes. Despite all that had been done in prewar years, the courts were still handing down some sentences which, in the eyes of Berlin, were too mild, and once such a final judgment had been given, nothing could be done about it. The whole idea of the finality of judgments had long been a thorn in the flesh of the Nazi jurists. Accordingly, 2 weeks after the outbreak of war, a decree[30] was promulgated which provided that, if the Chief Reich Prosecutor had “serious misgivings” concerning the justice of a sentence, he could, within 1 year thereafter, file an extraordinary appeal and secure a second trial of the case. The officials of the Reich Ministry of Justice, who controlled the public prosecutors, reviewed the criminal decisions and directed the chief prosecutor to file appeals in cases where they deemed the punishment insufficient. If the first decision had been rendered by the regular courts, the second trial was held by the Special Penal Senate of the Reich Supreme Court. If the first decision had been made by the People’s Court, on the other hand, the second trial was held by the Special Senate of the People’s Court. In 1940, an analogous procedure was authorized[31] under which the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Reich could lodge with the Supreme Court a petition for “nullification” against final judgments of the regular criminal courts or the Special Courts “if the judgment is not justified because of an erroneous application of law on the established facts.” The Supreme Court was authorized either to render a new judgment or to send the case back to a lower court for a new trial under binding instructions as to the legal principles which should govern. Not content with this elaborate system for punitive double jeopardy, the right of the Chief Public Prosecutor to attack final judgments by means of the nullification procedure was again enlarged in 1942, by extension to questions of law and to the adequacy of the punishment.[32] This new regulation provided the prosecution, but not the defense, with an unlimited right to ask for a new trial within one year after the decision had been rendered. On the day of the attack on Poland, a new assault on the tenure and independence of the judiciary was made.[33] By this new decree, judges were obliged to take any assignment whatsoever, as judge, prosecutor, or administrative official, and on any regular or Special Court, according to the orders of the Reich Minister of Justice. Similar powers were given to the presidents of the district courts of appeal within their respective districts.