Translation, as an act of communication, has always been a unique sort of knowledge and wisdom for mankind. This paper wants to show that political texts, too, are sensitive texts. It attempts to answer the question: what makes political texts sensitive texts? By discussing some examples from authentic translations (mainly English-German, German-English), it is argued that sensitivity in the context of translation is only partly determined by linguistic aspects. In other words: the linguistic foundations of translation have to be seen in a wider perspective, i.e. both the source text and the target text are embedded in a situation and in a culture, and they fulfil a specific function in their respective situations and cultures.