Agenda-setting focuses on how political issues emerge within society, enter parliamentary debates and are responded to by government decisions. We introduce a database that traces policy issues in Germany between 1978 and 2017. These political activities include political inputs (public opinion), processes (party manifestos, parliamentary questions and government speeches), as well as outputs (laws). Each activity’s topic is identified using the Comparative Policy Agendas scheme. Collectively, these observations comprise the policy agendas of Germany. We highlight the database potential by describing all German policy issues for the 39-year period and by tracking how immigration became a political issue.