diff --git a/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js b/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js
index 03cc7bfbb399e898a88cb99dc0a05cc90289f96a..108c09b16e637db198337d745f9fd83b4d2589e0 100644
--- a/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js
+++ b/src/core/js/webcaosdb.js
@@ -990,6 +990,11 @@ var version_history = new function () {
     const logger = log.getLogger("version_history");
     this.logger = logger;
 
+    this._has_version_fragment = function () {
+        const fragment = window.location.hash.substr(1);
+        return fragment === 'version_history';
+    }
+
     this._get = connection.get;
     /**
      * Retrieve the version history of an entity and return a table with the
@@ -1161,6 +1166,11 @@ var version_history = new function () {
         this.init_load_history_buttons();
         this.init_export_history_buttons();
         this.init_restore_version_buttons();
+
+        // check for the version_history fragment and open the modal if present.
+        if (this._has_version_fragment()) {
+            logger.debug("Showing full version modal for first entity");
+        }
     }
 }
 
@@ -2000,4 +2010,4 @@ class _CaosDBModules {
 
 var caosdb_modules = new _CaosDBModules()
 
-$(document).ready(initOnDocumentReady);
\ No newline at end of file
+$(document).ready(initOnDocumentReady);