Gays who faced discrimination in the German military will receive financial compensation and have their records cleared, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet decided this week in an attempt to address decades of mistreatment. “We cannot erase the suffering inflicted upon these people,” Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told German media Wednesday. The payments, described by the defense ministry as “symbolic,” are meant to “turn the page on a dark chapter in the history of the armed forces,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said, as reported by Deutsche Welle online.