diff --git a/moderncv.cls b/moderncv.cls
index 58f5ce8..2facfcd 100644
--- a/moderncv.cls
+++ b/moderncv.cls
@@ -95,22 +95,34 @@
     \xetexorluatexfalse
   \fi
 \fi
-% automatic loading of latin modern fonts
-%\ifxetexorluatex
-%  \RequirePackage{fontspec}
-%  \defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX}
-%  \RequirePackage{unicode-math}
-%  \setmainfont{Latin Modern}
-%  \setsansfont{Latin Modern Sans}
-%  \setmathfont{Latin Modern Math}
-%\else
-
-  \RequirePackage[T1]{fontenc}
-  \IfFileExists{lmodern.sty}%
-    {\RequirePackage{lmodern}}%
-    {}
-%\fi
 
+% do not use inputenc and do not automatically load lmodern to avoid problems with German 
+% charactes, see
+% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/496630/lualatex-problems-with-german-characters
+\ifxetexorluatex
+%     \RequirePackage{fontspec}
+%     \defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX}
+%     \RequirePackage{unicode-math}
+%     \setmainfont{Latin Modern}
+%     \setsansfont{Latin Modern Sans}
+%     \setmathfont{Latin Modern Math}
+%     \ifluatex
+%         \usepackage{luatextra}
+%         \usepackage{lualatex-math} %loads fontspec
+%         \usepackage{shellesc} % fix a bug for lualatex shellescape
+%     \fi
+\else
+    \RequirePackage[utf8]{inputenc}
+%     \RequirePackage[utf8]{inputenx}
+%     %additions for utf8
+%     \input{ix-utf8enc.dfu}
+    \RequirePackage[T1]{fontenc}
+    % loading lmodern can cause issues with certain special characters. avoid. 
+%     \IfFileExists{lmodern.sty}%
+%         {\RequirePackage{lmodern}}%
+%         {}
+%     \fi
+\fi
 % hyper links (hyperref is loaded at the end of the preamble to pass options required by loaded packages such as CJK)
 \newcommand*\pdfpagemode{UseNone}% do not show thumbnails or bookmarks on opening (on supporting browsers); set \pdfpagemode to "UseOutlines" to show bookmarks
 \RequirePackage{url}