diff --git a/eoatex2imxml.py b/eoatex2imxml.py
index 831bec9..1aae864 100755
--- a/eoatex2imxml.py
+++ b/eoatex2imxml.py
@@ -1610,22 +1610,26 @@ def cleanup():
 # here followed the conversion to epub and the conversion to django.xml
 # both parts were removed and put into separate files.
 
+intermediate_file_pre = "tmp_files/IntermediateXMLFile_pre.xml"
 intermediate_file = "tmp_files/IntermediateXMLFile.xml"
-ergebnisdatei = open(intermediate_file, "w")
+ergebnisdatei = open(intermediate_file_pre, "w")
 ergebnis = etree.tostring(xmlTree, pretty_print=True, encoding="unicode")
 ergebnisdatei.write(ergebnis)
 ergebnisdatei.close()
 
 # replacing a milestone element by a closing and opening combination
-with open(intermediate_file, 'r') as tmp_file:
+with open(intermediate_file_pre, 'r') as tmp_file:
   filedata = tmp_file.read()
 
+# add XML declaration
+filedata_declaration = "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>\n" + filedata
+
 # Replace the target string
-filedata = filedata.replace('<msparbreak/>', '</p><p>')
+filedata_clean = filedata_declaration.replace('<msparbreak/>', '</p><p>')
 
 # Write the file out again
 with open(intermediate_file, 'w') as outfile:
-  outfile.write(filedata)
+  outfile.write(filedata_clean)
 
 # saving some data
 data_to_pickle = {'chapterdict' : dictChapters,