diff --git a/pillar/role/wiki.sls b/pillar/role/wiki.sls
index a49e09c..e0522e2 100644
--- a/pillar/role/wiki.sls
+++ b/pillar/role/wiki.sls
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ mediawiki_1_27:
     # availale options:
       # alias: wikimove.opensuse.org
       # bento_lang: en
+      # dbmysql5: False  # only needed for old-en and old-de, defaults to True
       # dbpass: not_in_salt_yet
       # lang: en
       # readonly_msg: 'This wiki is in read-only mode for maintenance!'
@@ -66,11 +67,13 @@ mediawiki_1_27:
     old-de:
       bento_lang: de
       dbpass: not_in_salt_yet
+      dbmysql5: False
       lang: de
       readonly_msg: 'Dieses Wiki ist ein Archiv und kann nicht bearbeitet werden.'
       site_notice: 'Dieses Wiki ist ein Archiv (Stand: 2011) des alten openSUSE-Wikis. Das aktuelle openSUSE-Wiki finden Sie unter [https://de.opensuse.org de.opensuse.org].'
     old-en:
       bento_lang: en
+      dbmysql5: False
       dbpass: not_in_salt_yet
       lang: en
       readonly_msg: 'This wiki is an archive and cannot be edited.'
diff --git a/salt/profile/wiki/files/LocalSettings.php b/salt/profile/wiki/files/LocalSettings.php
index 172c5b8..ae3767e 100644
--- a/salt/profile/wiki/files/LocalSettings.php
+++ b/salt/profile/wiki/files/LocalSettings.php
@@ -60,9 +60,6 @@ $wgEmailAuthentication = false;
 # If you're on MySQL 3.x, this next line must be FALSE:
 $wgDBmysql4 = true;
 
-# Experimental charset support for MySQL 4.1/5.0.
-$wgDBmysql5 = true;
-
 # File Cache
 #$wgUseFileCache = true; /* default: false */
 #$wgFileCacheDirectory = "/srv/www/htdocs/cache";
diff --git a/salt/profile/wiki/files/wiki_settings.php b/salt/profile/wiki/files/wiki_settings.php
index ec56948..c082503 100644
--- a/salt/profile/wiki/files/wiki_settings.php
+++ b/salt/profile/wiki/files/wiki_settings.php
@@ -22,4 +22,11 @@ $wgSiteNotice = '{{ data.site_notice }}';
 
 {% if data.has_key('readonly_msg') %}
 $wgReadOnly = '{{ data.readonly_msg }}';
+$wgIgnoreImageErrors=true;  # avoid error message for thumbnails, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:$wgReadOnly
 {% endif %}
+
+{%- if data.has_key('dbmysql5') and not data.get('dbmysql5') %}
+$wgDBmysql5 = false;  # old-en and old-de don't work with utf8 DB connection
+{%- else %}
+$wgDBmysql5 = true;
+{%- endif %}