The German government has overturned the convictions of 50,000 gay men who were prosecuted and often jailed under Draconian, Nazi-era laws.
Tens of thousands of men were found guilty of gay acts under Third Reich law, which banned "sexual acts contrary to nature … be it between people of the male gender or between people and animals."
Many of those found guilty were then shipped off to prison or concentration camps. The law remained on the books for years after Germany's defeat in World War II.
The Guardian reports about 5,000 of those convicted are still alive and will be offered a lump sum of $3,360 and an additional $1,680 for each year they spent locked up.
The newspaper said under Nazi rule, sex between women was not explicitly illegal.
Fritz Schmehling, now 74 and convicted under the law as a teen in 1957, told AFP: "Back then, you lived with one foot in prison."
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