Corruption does not exist in the German Empire? Anna Rothfuss questions this common declaration by contemporaries and successfully shows that despite such self-affirmations, German society between 1871 and 1914 talked not only frequently but continuously about corruption. Not least, powerful names such as Bismarck and Krupp were topics of corruption debates and scandals. As an essential component of political communication, all political protagonists instrumentalised communication about corruption, which allowed them to partly expand their scope of action beyond constitutional restrictions. In addition, Rothfuss’ research demonstrates that in parallel the normative judgement of corrupt actions unified over time.