diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2a0c7dd49f9b65865bf319593b73abdf1850c508..7f2b0010de1333f04b54aee9f2ce53f5741abea1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Removed ###
 
+* Support for Python 3.6 and Python 3.7
+
 ### Fixed ###
 
 ### Security ###
diff --git a/DEPENDENCIES.md b/DEPENDENCIES.md
index d6f91cb9e15982bd1b7b0366f94bd9b37286f85a..117e764e44e7fa2693919451b653647b370be63f 100644
--- a/DEPENDENCIES.md
+++ b/DEPENDENCIES.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 * caosdb-server >= 0.7.2
-* Python >= 3.6
+* Python >= 3.8
 * pip >= 20.0.2
 
 Any other dependencies are defined in the setup.py and are being installed via pip
diff --git a/README_SETUP.md b/README_SETUP.md
index dc667da8aa5877132c1212d2ddd2827e85992118..48928d6c3f2c878a8d8b268b36ed2cdeba7f8014 100644
--- a/README_SETUP.md
+++ b/README_SETUP.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Requirements ###
 
-PyCaosDB needs at least Python 3.6.  Additionally, the following packages are required (they will
+PyCaosDB needs at least Python 3.8.  Additionally, the following packages are required (they will
 typically be installed automatically):
 
 - `lxml`
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Optional packages:
 
 #### Linux ####
 
-Make sure that Python (at least version 3.6) and pip is installed, using your system tools and
+Make sure that Python (at least version 3.8) and pip is installed, using your system tools and
 documentation.
 
 Then open a terminal and continue in the [Generic installation](#generic-installation) section.
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a20e689df53ef22912b33f19e9e2343895d2ad14..70d87707b71e79ac7a819a15d9df4ae1d9327b2d 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ def setup_package():
             "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Information Analysis",
         ],
         packages=find_packages('src'),
-        python_requires='>=3.6',
+        python_requires='>=3.8',
         package_dir={'': 'src'},
         install_requires=['lxml>=4.6.3',
                           'PyYAML>=6.0', 'future', 'PySocks>=1.6.7'],
diff --git a/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py b/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py
index 6c3946ee639872b0edb0b5b3c30a808cf8c028d4..43eb3410d8d5bdc8323a811fd2b6424fb75f3fda 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/connection/connection.py
@@ -176,16 +176,7 @@ class _DefaultCaosDBServerConnection(CaosDBServerConnection):
         if "ssl_version" in config and config["cacert"] is not None:
             ssl_version = getattr(ssl, config["ssl_version"])
         else:
-            try:
-                ssl_version = ssl.PROTOCOL_TLS
-            except AttributeError:
-                # deprecated since Python 3.6, but necessary until there.
-                try:
-                    ssl_version = ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2
-                except AttributeError:
-                    print("It seems as if your Python version does not support current encryption"
-                          "standards (such as TLS > 1.0), please upgrade to at least Python 3.4.")
-                    sys.exit(1)
+            ssl_version = ssl.PROTOCOL_TLS
         context = ssl.SSLContext(ssl_version)
         context.verify_mode = ssl.CERT_REQUIRED
 
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 62658ae501234a276db8d570328bbe80f1348a4c..e321891883b9425d24543a41f2d1283e0be52109 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [tox]
-envlist=py36, py37, py38, py39, py310
+envlist=py38, py39, py310
 skip_missing_interpreters = true
 
 [testenv]