diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1e991f164..f342a9c84 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,4 +6,3 @@
 *.bak
 *~
 bin
-PRIVATE
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8ce90102c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "PRIVATE"]
+	path = PRIVATE
+	url = git@magit1.mpie.de:damask/PRIVATE.git
diff --git a/PRIVATE b/PRIVATE
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..0177ff6d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PRIVATE
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 0177ff6d94e67ecbd2501c33d67b0238ddab6bd1