diff --git a/Core/Code/CMakeLists.txt b/Core/Code/CMakeLists.txt
index ee309fedbd..9c851580fd 100644
--- a/Core/Code/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Core/Code/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,46 +1,56 @@
 
 set(TOOL_CPPS "")
 
 # temporary suppress warnings in the following files until image accessors are fully integrated.
 set_source_files_properties( DataManagement/mitkImage.cpp COMPILE_FLAGS -DMITK_NO_DEPRECATED_WARNINGS )
 set_source_files_properties( Controllers/mitkSliceNavigationController.cpp COMPILE_FLAGS -DMITK_NO_DEPRECATED_WARNINGS )
 
 # In MITK_ITK_Config.cmake, we set ITK_NO_IO_FACTORY_REGISTER_MANAGER to 1 unless
 # the variable is already defined. Setting it to 1 prevents multiple registrations/
 # unregistrations of ITK IO factories during library loading/unloading (of MITK
 # libraries). However, we need "one" place where the IO factories are registered at
 # least once. This could be the application executable, but every executable would
 # need to take care of that itself. Instead, we allow the auto registration in the
 # Mitk Core library.
 set(ITK_NO_IO_FACTORY_REGISTER_MANAGER 0)
 
 MITK_CREATE_MODULE( Mitk
   INCLUDE_DIRS
     Algorithms Common DataManagement Controllers
     Interactions Interfaces IO Rendering ${MITK_BINARY_DIR}
   INTERNAL_INCLUDE_DIRS
     ${OPENGL_INCLUDE_DIR}
   DEPENDS mbilog CppMicroServices
   PACKAGE_DEPENDS tinyxml ITK GDCM VTK OpenGL CppUnit
   EXPORT_DEFINE MITK_CORE_EXPORT
   WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS
+  # Do not automatically create CppMicroServices initialization code.
+  # Because the VTK 6 "auto-init" functionality injects file-local static
+  # initialization code in every cpp file which includes a VTK header,
+  # static initialization order becomes an issue again. For the Mitk
+  # core library, we need to ensure that the VTK static initialization stuff
+  # happens before the CppMicroServices initialization, since the latter
+  # might already use VTK code which needs to access VTK object factories.
+  # Hence, CppMicroServices initialization code is placed manually within
+  # the mitkCoreActivator.cpp file.
+  NO_INIT
 )
 
 # this is needed for libraries which link to Mitk and need
 # symbols from explicitly instantiated templates
 if(MINGW)
   get_target_property(_mitkCore_MINGW_linkflags Mitk LINK_FLAGS)
   if(NOT _mitkCore_MINGW_linkflags)
     set(_mitkCore_MINGW_linkflags "")
   endif(NOT _mitkCore_MINGW_linkflags)
   set_target_properties(Mitk PROPERTIES LINK_FLAGS "${_mitkCore_MINGW_linkflags} -Wl,--export-all-symbols")
 endif(MINGW)
 
 if(MSVC_IDE OR MSVC_VERSION OR MINGW)
   target_link_libraries(Mitk psapi.lib)
 endif(MSVC_IDE OR MSVC_VERSION OR MINGW)
 
 # build tests?
 if(BUILD_TESTING)
   add_subdirectory(Testing)
 ENDIF()
diff --git a/Core/Code/Controllers/mitkCoreActivator.cpp b/Core/Code/Controllers/mitkCoreActivator.cpp
index 252960b14e..4d48b15f83 100644
--- a/Core/Code/Controllers/mitkCoreActivator.cpp
+++ b/Core/Code/Controllers/mitkCoreActivator.cpp
@@ -1,207 +1,213 @@
 /*===================================================================
 
 The Medical Imaging Interaction Toolkit (MITK)
 
 Copyright (c) German Cancer Research Center,
 Division of Medical and Biological Informatics.
 All rights reserved.
 
 This software is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without
 even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR
 A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 
 See LICENSE.txt or http://www.mitk.org for details.
 
 ===================================================================*/
 
 #include "mitkRenderingManager.h"
 #include "mitkPlanePositionManager.h"
 #include <mitkCoreDataNodeReader.h>
 #include <mitkStandardFileLocations.h>
 #include <mitkShaderRepository.h>
 #include <mitkPropertyAliases.h>
 #include <mitkPropertyDescriptions.h>
 #include <mitkPropertyExtensions.h>
 #include <mitkPropertyFilters.h>
 #include <mitkIOUtil.h>
 
+#include <usModuleInitialization.h>
 #include <usModuleActivator.h>
 #include <usModuleContext.h>
 #include <usModuleSettings.h>
 #include <usModuleEvent.h>
 #include <usModule.h>
 #include <usModuleResource.h>
 #include <usModuleResourceStream.h>
 
 void HandleMicroServicesMessages(us::MsgType type, const char* msg)
 {
   switch (type)
   {
   case us::DebugMsg:
     MITK_DEBUG << msg;
     break;
   case us::InfoMsg:
     MITK_INFO << msg;
     break;
   case us::WarningMsg:
     MITK_WARN << msg;
     break;
   case us::ErrorMsg:
     MITK_ERROR << msg;
     break;
   }
 }
 
 void AddMitkAutoLoadPaths(const std::string& programPath)
 {
   us::ModuleSettings::AddAutoLoadPath(programPath);
 #ifdef __APPLE__
   // Walk up three directories since that is where the .dylib files are located
   // for build trees.
   std::string additionalPath = programPath;
   bool addPath = true;
   for(int i = 0; i < 3; ++i)
   {
     std::size_t index = additionalPath.find_last_of('/');
     if (index != std::string::npos)
     {
       additionalPath = additionalPath.substr(0, index);
     }
     else
     {
       addPath = false;
       break;
     }
   }
   if (addPath)
   {
     us::ModuleSettings::AddAutoLoadPath(additionalPath);
   }
 #endif
 }
 
 /*
  * This is the module activator for the "Mitk" module. It registers core services
  * like ...
  */
 class MitkCoreActivator : public us::ModuleActivator
 {
 public:
 
   void Load(us::ModuleContext* context)
   {
     // Handle messages from CppMicroServices
     us::installMsgHandler(HandleMicroServicesMessages);
 
     // Add the current application directory to the auto-load paths.
     // This is useful for third-party executables.
     std::string programPath = mitk::IOUtil::GetProgramPath();
     if (programPath.empty())
     {
       MITK_WARN << "Could not get the program path.";
     }
     else
     {
       AddMitkAutoLoadPaths(programPath);
     }
 
     //m_RenderingManager = mitk::RenderingManager::New();
     //context->RegisterService<mitk::RenderingManager>(renderingManager.GetPointer());
     m_PlanePositionManager.reset(new mitk::PlanePositionManagerService);
     context->RegisterService<mitk::PlanePositionManagerService>(m_PlanePositionManager.get());
 
     m_CoreDataNodeReader.reset(new mitk::CoreDataNodeReader);
     context->RegisterService<mitk::IDataNodeReader>(m_CoreDataNodeReader.get());
 
     m_ShaderRepository.reset(new mitk::ShaderRepository);
     context->RegisterService<mitk::IShaderRepository>(m_ShaderRepository.get());
 
     m_PropertyAliases.reset(new mitk::PropertyAliases);
     context->RegisterService<mitk::IPropertyAliases>(m_PropertyAliases.get());
 
     m_PropertyDescriptions.reset(new mitk::PropertyDescriptions);
     context->RegisterService<mitk::IPropertyDescriptions>(m_PropertyDescriptions.get());
 
     m_PropertyExtensions.reset(new mitk::PropertyExtensions);
     context->RegisterService<mitk::IPropertyExtensions>(m_PropertyExtensions.get());
 
     m_PropertyFilters.reset(new mitk::PropertyFilters);
     context->RegisterService<mitk::IPropertyFilters>(m_PropertyFilters.get());
 
     context->AddModuleListener(this, &MitkCoreActivator::HandleModuleEvent);
 
     /*
     There IS an option to exchange ALL vtkTexture instances against vtkNeverTranslucentTextureFactory.
     This code is left here as a reminder, just in case we might need to do that some time.
 
     vtkNeverTranslucentTextureFactory* textureFactory = vtkNeverTranslucentTextureFactory::New();
     vtkObjectFactory::RegisterFactory( textureFactory );
     textureFactory->Delete();
     */
   }
 
   void Unload(us::ModuleContext* )
   {
     // The mitk::ModuleContext* argument of the Unload() method
     // will always be 0 for the Mitk library. It makes no sense
     // to use it at this stage anyway, since all libraries which
     // know about the module system have already been unloaded.
   }
 
 private:
 
   void HandleModuleEvent(const us::ModuleEvent moduleEvent);
 
   std::map<long, std::vector<int> > moduleIdToShaderIds;
 
   //mitk::RenderingManager::Pointer m_RenderingManager;
   std::auto_ptr<mitk::PlanePositionManagerService> m_PlanePositionManager;
   std::auto_ptr<mitk::CoreDataNodeReader> m_CoreDataNodeReader;
   std::auto_ptr<mitk::ShaderRepository> m_ShaderRepository;
   std::auto_ptr<mitk::PropertyAliases> m_PropertyAliases;
   std::auto_ptr<mitk::PropertyDescriptions> m_PropertyDescriptions;
   std::auto_ptr<mitk::PropertyExtensions> m_PropertyExtensions;
   std::auto_ptr<mitk::PropertyFilters> m_PropertyFilters;
 };
 
 void MitkCoreActivator::HandleModuleEvent(const us::ModuleEvent moduleEvent)
 {
   if (moduleEvent.GetType() == us::ModuleEvent::LOADED)
   {
     // search and load shader files
     std::vector<us::ModuleResource> shaderResoruces =
         moduleEvent.GetModule()->FindResources("Shaders", "*.xml", true);
     for (std::vector<us::ModuleResource>::iterator i = shaderResoruces.begin();
          i != shaderResoruces.end(); ++i)
     {
       if (*i)
       {
         us::ModuleResourceStream rs(*i);
         int id = m_ShaderRepository->LoadShader(rs, i->GetBaseName());
         if (id >= 0)
         {
           moduleIdToShaderIds[moduleEvent.GetModule()->GetModuleId()].push_back(id);
         }
       }
     }
   }
   else if (moduleEvent.GetType() == us::ModuleEvent::UNLOADED)
   {
     std::map<long, std::vector<int> >::iterator shaderIdsIter =
         moduleIdToShaderIds.find(moduleEvent.GetModule()->GetModuleId());
     if (shaderIdsIter != moduleIdToShaderIds.end())
     {
       for (std::vector<int>::iterator idIter = shaderIdsIter->second.begin();
            idIter != shaderIdsIter->second.end(); ++idIter)
       {
         m_ShaderRepository->UnloadShader(*idIter);
       }
       moduleIdToShaderIds.erase(shaderIdsIter);
     }
   }
 
 
 }
 
 US_EXPORT_MODULE_ACTIVATOR(Mitk, MitkCoreActivator)
 
+// Call CppMicroservices initialization code at the end of the file.
+// This especially ensures that VTK object factories have already
+// been registered (VTK initialization code is injected by implicitly
+// include VTK header files at the top of this file).
+US_INITIALIZE_MODULE("Mitk", "Mitk")