diff --git a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
index 22a513f6775c9187a9a055cd92048c45f64c5cc4..d57189c368d46ae8edf7fbf70b75fff0ffb278f3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/caosdb/server/query/Query.java
@@ -98,7 +98,13 @@ public class Query implements QueryInterface, ToElementable, TransactionInterfac
 
     /** No parsing, just sets the selector string. */
     public Selection(final String selector) {
-      this.selector = selector.trim();
+      if (selector.trim().startsWith("'") && selector.trim().endsWith("'")) {
+        this.selector = selector.replaceFirst("^\\s*'", "").replaceFirst("'\\s*$", "").trim();
+      } else if (selector.trim().startsWith("\"") && selector.trim().endsWith("\"")) {
+        this.selector = selector.replaceFirst("^\\s*\"", "").replaceFirst("\"\\s*$", "").trim();
+      } else {
+        this.selector = selector.trim();
+      }
     }
 
     public String getSelector() {