diff --git a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
index 0ce01a74f..25b928913 100644
--- a/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
+++ b/docs/changelog/7.x.x.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
  - fixed #10601: Edit field in Thing: no submit button
  - fixed #10560: 7.7.2 upgrade script leaves rssFromParent assets behind (Wes Morgan)
  - fixed #10612: strange i18n, with regard to label
+ - fixed #9935: German characters in Collaboration System
 
 7.7.13
  - fixed #10574: Creating Calendar Entry
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm b/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm
index 706c0e436..43532948c 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm
@@ -434,6 +434,7 @@ sub splitTag {
 
     while (my $token = $p->get_tag($tag)) {
         my $text = $p->get_trimmed_text("/$tag");
+        utf8::upgrade($text);  ##PATCH to work around HTML::Entities and DBD::mysql
         next if $text =~ /^([[:space:]]|[[:^print:]])*$/;    # skip whitespace
         push @result, $text;          # add the text between the tags to the result array
         last if @result == $count;    # if we have a full count then quit
diff --git a/t/Asset/Post.t b/t/Asset/Post.t
index 4846fbb52..0d5535dbe 100644
--- a/t/Asset/Post.t
+++ b/t/Asset/Post.t
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ use strict;
 use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../lib";
 use WebGUI::Test;
 use WebGUI::Session;
-use Test::More tests => 5; # increment this value for each test you create
+use Test::More tests => 9; # increment this value for each test you create
 use WebGUI::Asset::Wobject::Collaboration;
 use WebGUI::Asset::Post;
 use WebGUI::Asset::Post::Thread;
@@ -115,13 +115,27 @@ ok($post->canEdit(), "User in groupToEditPost group can edit post after the time
 $session->user({userId => $groupIdEditUser->userId});
 ok($post->canEdit(), "User in groupIdEditUserGroup group can edit post after the timeout");
 
+# getSynopsisAndContent
+
+my ($synopsis, $content) = $post->getSynopsisAndContent('', q|Brandheiße Neuigkeiten rund um's Klettern für euch aus der Region |);
+is($synopsis, q|Brandheiße Neuigkeiten rund um's Klettern für euch aus der Region |, 'getSynopsisAndContent: UTF8 characters okay');
+
+$post->update({synopsis => $synopsis});
+
+##There is a bug in DBD::mysql with not properly encoding 8-bit characters.  Also, HTML::Entities produces
+##8-bit utf8 (not strict) characters.  So we write a quick test to make sure our patch in splitTag works correctly.
+my $dbPost = WebGUI::Asset->newByDynamicClass($session, $post->getId);
+like($dbPost->get('synopsis'), qr/Brandhei.e Neuigkeiten rund um's Klettern f.r euch aus der Region /, 'patch test for DBD::Mysql and HTML::Entities');
+
+($synopsis, $content) = $post->getSynopsisAndContent('', q|less than < greater than >|);
+is($synopsis, q|less than < greater than >|, '... HTML escaped characters okay');
+
+($synopsis, $content) = $post->getSynopsisAndContent('', q|<p>less than &lt; greater than &gt;</p>|);
+is($synopsis, q|less than < greater than >|, '... HTML entities decoded by HTML::splitTag');
+
 TODO: {
     local $TODO = "Tests to make later";
 	ok(0, 'Whole lot more work to do here');
 }
 
-END {
-}
-
-
 # vim: syntax=perl filetype=perl
diff --git a/t/splitTag.t b/t/splitTag.t
index 6a8b16289..2e14e4592 100644
--- a/t/splitTag.t
+++ b/t/splitTag.t
@@ -30,86 +30,102 @@ my $session = WebGUI::Test->session;
 # call type = 4: only the text; return scalar
 
 my @testArray = (
-	{
-		inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
-		output => q!First Paragraph!,
-                style => 1,
-		tag => 'p',
-		count => 1,
-		comment => 'get one paragraph, no defaults',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
-		output => q!First Paragraph!,
-                style => 4,
-		tag => 'p',
-		count => 1,
-		comment => 'get one paragraph, all defaults',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
-		output => q!First Paragraph;Second Paragraph!,
-                style => 1,
-		tag => 'p',
-		count => -1,
-		comment => 'get all paragraphs, no defaults',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
-		output => q!First Paragraph;Second Paragraph!,
-                style => 3,
-		tag => 'p',
-		count => -1,
-		comment => 'get all paragraphs, default tag',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<p> </p><p>First nonblank Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
-		output => q!First nonblank Paragraph!,
-                style => 4,
-		tag => 'p',
-		count => -1,
-		comment => 'get nonblank paragraph, all defaults',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<p> &nbsp;</p><p>First nonblank Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
-		output => q!First nonblank Paragraph!,
-                style => 4,
-		tag => 'p',
-		count => -1,
-		comment => 'get nonblank(nbsp) paragraph, all defaults',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<li>First List Item</li> <li>Second List Item</li> <li>Third List Item</li>!,
-		output => q!First List Item;Second List Item;Third List Item!,
-                style => 1,
-		tag => 'li',
-		count => -1,
-		comment => 'get all list items, no defaults',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<li>First List Item</li> <li>Second List Item</li> <li>Third List Item</li>!,
-		output => q!First List Item;Second List Item!,
-                style => 1,
-		tag => 'li',
-		count => 2,
-		comment => 'get first 2 list items, no defaults',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<tr><td>First Item</td> <td>Second Item</td></tr>!,
-		output => q!First Item Second Item!,
-                style => 1,
-		tag => 'tr',
-		count => -1,
-		comment => 'get table row ignore table data',
-	},
-	{
-		inputText => q!<tr><td>First Item</td> <td>Second Item</td></tr>!,
-		output => q!First Item;Second Item!,
-                style => 1,
-		tag => 'td',
-		count => -1,
-		comment => 'get table data ignore table row',
-	},
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
+        output => q!First Paragraph!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => 1,
+        comment => 'get one paragraph, no defaults',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
+        output => q!First Paragraph!,
+        style => 4,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => 1,
+        comment => 'get one paragraph, all defaults',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
+        output => q!First Paragraph;Second Paragraph!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'get all paragraphs, no defaults',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
+        output => q!First Paragraph;Second Paragraph!,
+        style => 3,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'get all paragraphs, default tag',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p> </p><p>First nonblank Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
+        output => q!First nonblank Paragraph!,
+        style => 4,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'get nonblank paragraph, all defaults',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p> &nbsp;</p><p>First nonblank Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p>!,
+        output => q!First nonblank Paragraph!,
+        style => 4,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'first nonblank(nbsp) paragraph, all defaults',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<li>First List Item</li> <li>Second List Item</li> <li>Third List Item</li>!,
+        output => q!First List Item;Second List Item;Third List Item!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'li',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'get all list items, no defaults',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<li>First List Item</li> <li>Second List Item</li> <li>Third List Item</li>!,
+        output => q!First List Item;Second List Item!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'li',
+        count => 2,
+        comment => 'get first 2 list items, no defaults',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<tr><td>First Item</td> <td>Second Item</td></tr>!,
+        output => q!First Item Second Item!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'tr',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'get table row ignore table data',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<tr><td>First Item</td> <td>Second Item</td></tr>!,
+        output => q!First Item;Second Item!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'td',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'get table data ignore table row',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p>less than &lt; greater than &gt;</p>!,
+        output => q!less than < greater than >!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'Entities get decoded',
+    },
+    {
+        inputText => q!<p>Brandheiße Neuigkeiten rund um's Klettern für euch aus der Region </p>!,
+        output => q!Brandheiße Neuigkeiten rund um's Klettern für euch aus der Region!,
+        style => 1,
+        tag => 'p',
+        count => -1,
+        comment => 'Get a paragraph tag with long characters',
+    },
 );
 
 my $numTests = scalar @testArray;
@@ -119,13 +135,13 @@ plan tests => $numTests;
 my $output;
 foreach my $testSet (@testArray) {
     if( $testSet->{style} == 1 ) {
-	$output = join ';',WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{tag},$testSet->{inputText}, $testSet->{count});
+    $output = join ';',WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{tag},$testSet->{inputText}, $testSet->{count});
     } elsif( $testSet->{style} == 2 ) {
-	$output = WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{tag},$testSet->{inputText});
+    $output = WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{tag},$testSet->{inputText});
     } elsif( $testSet->{style} == 3 ) {
-	$output = join ';', WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{inputText}, $testSet->{count});
+    $output = join ';', WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{inputText}, $testSet->{count});
     } elsif( $testSet->{style} == 4 ) {
-	$output = WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{inputText});
+    $output = WebGUI::HTML::splitTag($testSet->{inputText});
     }
     is($output, $testSet->{output}, $testSet->{comment});
 }