diff --git a/make/tex.mk b/make/tex.mk
index e78fc1e9..bf5f6663 100644
--- a/make/tex.mk
+++ b/make/tex.mk
@@ -13,10 +13,15 @@ FMT_OUT = $(patsubst %,$(OUT).%.zip,$(FMT))
 FMT_OFFLINE_OUT = $(patsubst %,$(OUT).%.zip,$(FMT_OFFLINE))
 ALL = $(FMT_OUT) html_install
 PRE_HTML = $(patsubst %.tmpl,%,$(wildcard *.html.tmpl))
-PRE_TEX  = $(patsubst %.tmpl,%,$(wildcard *.tex.tmpl) $(LOCAL_IMPORTED_TEMPLATES))
+PRE_TEX  = $(patsubst %.ger,%.tex,$(patsubst %.tmpl,%,$(wildcard *.tex.tmpl *.ger) $(LOCAL_IMPORTED_TEMPLATES)))
 TEXSRC = $(wildcard *.tex $(IMAGES) $(LOCAL_SRC)) $(PRE_TEX)
 DATE := $(shell date +'%b, %d, %Y')
-
+TEX_WARN_DONT_EDIT = "\
+%+---------------------------------------------------+\n\
+%|            DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!                 |\n\
+%| It was automatically created during the build     |\n\
+%|                   process!                        |\n\
+%+---------------------------------------------------+\n"
 WD = `pwd`
 NEWDIRS = $(DISTDIR) $(HTMLDIR) $(DVIDIR)
 
@@ -38,7 +43,21 @@ define replace_macros
 		s/__ICON_CONTENTS__/$(ICON_CONTENTS)/g; \
 		s/__ICON_PREV__/$(ICON_PREV)/g; \
 		s/__ICON_NEXT__/$(ICON_NEXT)/g; \
-	" > $@
+	" >> $@
+endef
+
+define replace_umlauts
+	@echo replacing german umlauts with tex-style umlauts
+	@echo -e $(TEX_WARN_DONT_EDIT) > $@
+	cat $< | sed -e "\
+		s/ä/\"a/g; \
+		s/Ä/\"A/g; \
+		s/ö/\"o/g; \
+		s/Ö/\"O/g; \
+		s/ü/\"u/g; \
+		s/Ü/\"Ü/g; \
+		s/ß/\"s/g; \
+	" >> $@
 endef
 
 all: dirs $(ALL)
@@ -50,14 +69,17 @@ txt: dirs $(OUT).txt.zip
 html: dirs $(OUT).html.zip
 pdf: dirs $(OUT).pdf.zip
 
+%.tex: %.ger
+	$(replace_umlauts)
+
 %.tex: %.tex.tmpl
 	$(replace_macros)
 
 %.html: %.html.tmpl
 	$(replace_macros)
 
-%.tmpl: $(TEX_TMPL_DIR)/%.tmpl
-	cp $< $@
+%.tmpl:
+	cp $(TEX_TMPL_DIR)/$@ .
 
 cfgtest.done:
 	test -n "$(OUTPUT)" # OUTPUT