diff --git a/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/utils/ServiceVersion.java b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/utils/ServiceVersion.java
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1233c15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/utils/ServiceVersion.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.utils;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+/**
+ * @author hanl
+ * @date 23/01/2014
+ */
+public class ServiceVersion {
+
+    private ServiceVersion() {
+    }
+
+    public static String getAPIVersion() {
+        String path = "/version.prop";
+        InputStream stream = ServiceVersion.class.getResourceAsStream(path);
+        if (stream == null)
+            return "UNKNOWN";
+
+        Properties props = new Properties();
+        try {
+            props.load(stream);
+            stream.close();
+            return (String) props.get("version");
+        }catch (IOException e) {
+            return "UNKNOWN";
+        }
+
+    }
+
+}