Germany has so far compensated 249 homosexuals who have been prosecuted or investigated under a controversial law banning homosexuality for nearly a century. About 860 thousand euros were paid to them, reports the Federal Office of Justice. Victims have until July 21 next year to file a claim for compensation.

The law made sexual intercourse between men illegal. The Nazis tightened this law. As a result, homosexuals can also be condemned without sexual contact. The controversial law was used until 1969. Since then, the minimum age of 21 has been applicable to sexual intercourse between men. Four years later, the minimum age was raised to 19. The entire paragraph was not removed from the blog until 1994.

More than 50,000 men have been convicted in the past under Article 175 of the German Penal Code. The law dates back to 1871 and was used by the Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s to imprison (allegedly) gay men. It is estimated that between 5,000 and 15,000 men ended up in concentration camps. Most of them died there.

3000 EUR

In 2017, the German government overturned thousands of convictions based on the law and announced that victims were entitled to compensation. €3,000 per conviction and another €1,500 per year are paid to imprisoned men.

Two years later, the compensation system was expanded. Now people who have been investigated on the basis of the clause of the law or who have been detained and ultimately not convicted, are also entitled to compensation.