diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index b23b9fd..133bff2 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -14,6 +14,15 @@ function get_color_from_ip($ip) {
 //header("refresh: 28");
 header("Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate");
 
+if (!is_dir("data")) {
+	// initialize everything
+	mkdir("data", 0755);
+	file_put_contents("data/sentences.txt", "<!-- automatically created empty sentences file -->\n");
+	file_put_contents("data/archive-links.txt", "<!-- automatically created empty archive links file -->\n");
+	file_put_contents("data/config.json", "{\n\n}\n");
+	print("<p>Data directory automatically initialized</p>");
+}
+
 if (array_key_exists("submitted", $_REQUEST)) {
 	$word = urldecode($_REQUEST["submitted"]);
 	//print("Jemand schreibt ".$word."<br>");