50,000 Gay Men Convicted Under Nazi-era Law To be Pardoned

Germany is to officially pardon 50,000 men convicted under a Nazi-era law criminalising homosexuality that continued to be enforced after the Second World War. Paragraph 175 was used by Adolf Hitler’s regime to send thousands of people to concentration camps but even after the Holocaust, it was not dropped by the new West German government.

Following decades of work by campaigners, anyone convicted under the law will be pardoned and those living will gain the automatic right to compensation. Angela Merkel's cabinet of conservatives and centre-left Social Democrats approved a bill granting the pardons on Wednesday but it still requires parliamentary approval.

Several other countries including Canada and New Zealand are considering pardons for those convicted under repealed laws against same-sex relationships. Homosexuality was decriminalised in Germany 1969 but the legislation was not formally removed until 1994.