diff --git a/Modules/CMakeLists.txt b/Modules/CMakeLists.txt
index 2ab6105019..569ca82327 100644
--- a/Modules/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Modules/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,32 +1,46 @@
 SET(LIBPOSTFIX "Ext")
 
 SET(module_dirs
     SceneSerializationBase
     PlanarFigure
     ImageExtraction
     ImageStatistics
     MitkExt
     SceneSerialization
     QmitkExt
     DiffusionImaging
     GPGPU
     IGT
     CameraCalibration
     IGTUI
     RigidRegistration
     RigidRegistrationUI
     DeformableRegistration
     DeformableRegistrationUI
     OpenCVVideoSupport
     Overlays
     InputDevices
     ToFHardware
     ToFProcessing
     ToFUI
 )
 
 SET(MITK_DEFAULT_SUBPROJECTS MITK-Modules)
 
 FOREACH(module_dir ${module_dirs})
   ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(${module_dir})
 ENDFOREACH()
+
+IF(MITK_PRIVATE_MODULES)
+  FILE(GLOB all_subdirs RELATIVE ${MITK_PRIVATE_MODULES} ${MITK_PRIVATE_MODULES}/*)
+  FOREACH(subdir ${all_subdirs})
+    STRING(FIND ${subdir} "." _result)
+    IF(_result EQUAL -1)
+      IF(EXISTS ${MITK_PRIVATE_MODULES}/${subdir}/CMakeLists.txt)
+        MESSAGE(STATUS "Found private module ${subdir}")    
+        ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(${MITK_PRIVATE_MODULES}/${subdir} private_modules/${subdir})
+    ENDIF()
+    ENDIF()
+  ENDFOREACH()     
+ENDIF(MITK_PRIVATE_MODULES)
+