The German government has announced that it will provide reparations to more than 50,000 men arrested for being gay in the era before homosexuality was decriminalized.

The plan will see €30 million distributed to those imprisoned under Paragraph 175, an anti-LGBT law that remained a part of Germany's criminal code until 1994.

In total, 140,000 men were convicted under the law from 1946-1969, when homosexuality was decriminalized in both East and West Germany. Of those 140,000 victims, an estimated 50,000 were arrested.

“The historic convictions are wrong. They are deeply hurtful to human dignity,” said Justice Minister Heiko Maas. “We cannot completely undo these outrages of the rule of law, but we want to rehabilitate the victims.”

The measure marks a significant moment in Germany's long and complicated relationship with its LGBT community.

Though homosexual acts were criminalized in 1871 when the country was founded, by the 1920s, Berlin had become the gay capital of the world, boasting numerous gay clubs and associations—including the famous Magnus Hirschfeld Institute of Sexual Research.

With the rise of the Nazi party, however, Germany's gay and trans populations came under attack, with thousands arrested and executed during the Holocaust. Even after the Nazis were defeated, many of their oppressive laws remained on the books through the early 90s.

In 2002, the country pardoned LGBT individuals convicted during the Nazi era but, up until now, had yet to expunge those prosecuted after the war.

“Time is short to overturn these unjust convictions and restore the human dignity of the victims of the persecution of homosexuality,” Germany’s Lesbian and Gay Association said in a statement following the government's announcement.

According to Maas, each case for compensation will be decided on an individual basis and that the government expects more than 5,000 men to make claims.

h/t: Independent