The term "transparency" only gained political significance from the 1970s onwards. Nevertheless, Sandra Zimmermann shows, on the basis of six case studies, that transparency has been discussed since the German Empire (Kaiserreich). It was understood as an antidote to corruption and thus demanded in connection with corruption-scandals. Parliamentary committees of enquiry or commissions of enquiry, which were often set up to investigate such scandals, played an important role in this context. Transparency was demanded and discussed in them. The committees were supposed to investigate the scandal through transparent investigations, to cleanse parliament and to reassure the population after such a scandal.