diff --git a/source/ArmarXGui/applications/ArmarXGui/ArmarXGuiApp.cpp b/source/ArmarXGui/applications/ArmarXGui/ArmarXGuiApp.cpp
index 8e09cdae587772c7bd1a9c043fe7e7b952a949ae..a42b1aa99bc58a05541dc1429ad607d2965e785d 100644
--- a/source/ArmarXGui/applications/ArmarXGui/ArmarXGuiApp.cpp
+++ b/source/ArmarXGui/applications/ArmarXGui/ArmarXGuiApp.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <QListWidget>
 #include <QMessageBox>
 #include <QTime>
+#include <QTextCodec>
 #include <iostream>
 
 using namespace armarx;
@@ -40,6 +41,8 @@ ArmarXGuiApp::ArmarXGuiApp(int& argc, char** argv) :
     this->argv = 0;
     qApplication = new ArmarXQApplication(argc, argv);
 
+    // Set text encoding to UTF-8 (otherwise, umlauts display wrongly in, e.g., the log viewer)
+    QTextCodec::setCodecForCStrings(QTextCodec::codecForName("UTF-8"));
 }
 
 ArmarXGuiApp::~ArmarXGuiApp()