diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index 3641467..a58d584 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ steps:
   pull: default
   image: patwie/tar
   commands:
-    - tar -czvf infomark-backend.tar.gz api.yaml infomark README.md LICENSE .infomark.example.yml docker-compose.example.yml database/schema.sql email/*.txt files/uploads/ files/generated_files/ files/common/ database/migrations
+    - tar -czvf infomark-backend.tar.gz api.yaml infomark README.md LICENSE .infomark.example.yml docker-compose.example.yml database/schema.sql files/uploads/ files/generated_files/ files/common/ database/migrations
 
 - name: publish_release
   image: plugins/github-release
@@ -126,6 +126,6 @@ services:
 
 ---
 kind: signature
-hmac: 79461cde6a81a50bc7e6ad292872f4a10b9126d206196430cd4accaa4f6a61b9
+hmac: 9b5ce91cb6e211a4489fa641cc548efc75721964c9f92fe97d29eab4a410bf92
 
 ...
diff --git a/.infomark.example.yml b/.infomark.example.yml
index 348c956..a1b64dc 100644
--- a/.infomark.example.yml
+++ b/.infomark.example.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ db_debug: false
 
 # email
 email_from: no-reply@info2.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de
-email_templates_dir: /var/www/infomark-staging/app/email
 sendmail_binary: /usr/sbin/sendmail
 email_channel_size: 300
 
diff --git a/.infomark.yml.ci b/.infomark.yml.ci
index 141cac2..b1ecd3e 100644
--- a/.infomark.yml.ci
+++ b/.infomark.yml.ci
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ db_debug: false
 
 # email
 email_from: no-reply@info2.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de
-email_templates_dir: /drone/src/email
 sendmail_binary: /usr/sbin/sendmail
 email_channel_size: 300
 
diff --git a/api/app/account.go b/api/app/account.go
index 82efc14..518c256 100644
--- a/api/app/account.go
+++ b/api/app/account.go
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func sendConfirmEmailForUser(user *model.User) error {
 	msg, err := email.NewEmailFromTemplate(
 		user.Email,
 		"Confirm Account Instructions",
-		"confirm_email.en.txt",
+		email.ConfirmEmailTemplateEN,
 		map[string]string{
 			"first_name":            user.FirstName,
 			"last_name":             user.LastName,
diff --git a/api/app/auth.go b/api/app/auth.go
index e9afa38..a2a8a8c 100644
--- a/api/app/auth.go
+++ b/api/app/auth.go
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ func (rs *AuthResource) RequestPasswordResetHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *ht
 	msg, err := email.NewEmailFromTemplate(
 		user.Email,
 		"Password Reset Instructions",
-		"request_password_token.en.txt",
+		email.RequestPasswordTokenTemailTemplateEN,
 		map[string]string{
 			"first_name":           user.FirstName,
 			"last_name":            user.LastName,
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index c363af9..8aaba45 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -91,13 +91,4 @@ func InitConfig() {
 	if err := viper.ReadInConfig(); err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
-
-	// test if config is correct
-	// verify path to email templates
-	rootDir := viper.GetString("email_templates_dir")
-	filename := fmt.Sprintf("%s/%s", rootDir, "request_password_token.en.txt")
-	if _, err := os.Stat(filename); os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		fmt.Println("Path from config file .infomark.yml to email templates is wrong!")
-		panic(err)
-	}
 }
diff --git a/email/confirm_email.de.txt b/email/confirm_email.de.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index ffab436..0000000
--- a/email/confirm_email.de.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-Hi {{.first_name}} {{.last_name}}!
-
-
-Sie müssen nun Ihre E-Mail-Adresse bestätigen:
-   - Um sich in unser System einzuloggen und die Lösungen zu den Übungsblättern hochzuladen.
-   - Passwort zurücksetzen
-   - Account-Warnungen erhalten
-
-Bitte verwende den folgenden Link, um deine E-Mail-Adresse zu bestätigen:
-
-{{.confirm_email_url}}/{{.confirm_email_address}}/{{.confirm_email_token}}
-
diff --git a/email/confirm_email.en.txt b/email/confirm_email.en.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 35665c6..0000000
--- a/email/confirm_email.en.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-Hi {{.first_name}} {{.last_name}}!
-
-
-You must now confirm your email address to:
-   - Log into our system and upload your homework solutions
-   - Reset your password
-   - Receive account alerts
-
-Please use the following link to confirm your email address:
-
-{{.confirm_email_url}}/{{.confirm_email_address}}/{{.confirm_email_token}}
-
diff --git a/email/email.go b/email/email.go
index f530285..e6dd5fb 100644
--- a/email/email.go
+++ b/email/email.go
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ func NewEmailFromUser(toEmail string, subject string, body string, user *model.U
 }
 
 // NewEmailFromTemplate creates a new email structure filling a template file
-func NewEmailFromTemplate(toEmail string, subject string, file string, data map[string]string) (*Email, error) {
-	body, err := LoadAndFillTemplate(file, data)
+func NewEmailFromTemplate(toEmail string, subject string, tpl *template.Template, data map[string]string) (*Email, error) {
+	body, err := FillTemplate(tpl, data)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -190,3 +190,40 @@ func LoadAndFillTemplate(file string, data map[string]string) (string, error) {
 	err = t.Execute(&tpl, data)
 	return tpl.String(), err
 }
+
+// FillTemplate loads a template and fills out the placeholders.
+func FillTemplate(t *template.Template, data map[string]string) (string, error) {
+	var tpl bytes.Buffer
+	err := t.Execute(&tpl, data)
+	return tpl.String(), err
+}
+
+const (
+	confirmEmailTemplateSrcEN = `Hi {{.first_name}} {{.last_name}}!
+
+You must now confirm your email address to:
+   - Log into our system and upload your homework solutions
+   - Reset your password
+   - Receive account alerts
+
+Please use the following link to confirm your email address:
+
+{{.confirm_email_url}}/{{.confirm_email_address}}/{{.confirm_email_token}}
+
+`
+
+	requestPasswordTokenTemailTemplateSrcEN = `Hi {{.first_name}} {{.last_name}}!
+
+We got a request to change your password. You can change your password using the following link.
+
+{{.reset_password_url}}/{{.email_address}}/{{.reset_password_token}}
+
+If you have not requested the change, you can ignore this mail.
+
+Your password can only be changed manually by you.
+
+`
+)
+
+var ConfirmEmailTemplateEN *template.Template = template.Must(template.New("confirmEmailTemplateSrcEN").Parse(confirmEmailTemplateSrcEN))
+var RequestPasswordTokenTemailTemplateEN *template.Template = template.Must(template.New("requestPasswordTokenTemailTemplateSrcEN").Parse(requestPasswordTokenTemailTemplateSrcEN))
diff --git a/email/email.py b/email/email.py
deleted file mode 100644
index fa22115..0000000
--- a/email/email.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-import os
-
-
-def sendMail():
-  sendmail_location = "/usr/sbin/sendmail"  # sendmail location
-  p = os.popen("%s -t" % sendmail_location, "w")
-  p.write("From: %s\n" % "no-reply@info2.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de")
-  p.write("To: %s\n" % "patrick.wieschollek@uni-tuebingen.de")
-  p.write("Subject: TestSubject\n")
-  p.write("\n")  # blank line separating headers from body
-  p.write("body of the mail")
-  status = p.close()
-  if status != 0:
-    print("Sendmail exit status", status)
-
-
-sendMail()
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/email/request_password_token.de.txt b/email/request_password_token.de.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 5b55793..0000000
--- a/email/request_password_token.de.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-Hallo {{.first_name}} {{.last_name}}!
-
-Es gab eine Anfrage dein Passwort zu ändern. Du kannst dies mittels Klick auf folgendne Link durchführen.
-
-{{.reset_password_url}}/{{.email_address}}/{{.reset_password_token}}
-
-Wenn du die Änderung nicht angefragt hast, kannst du diese Mail ruhig ignorieren.
-
-Dein Passwort kann nur durch dich manuell geändert werden.
diff --git a/email/request_password_token.en.txt b/email/request_password_token.en.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 892b79e..0000000
--- a/email/request_password_token.en.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-Hi {{.first_name}} {{.last_name}}!
-
-We got a request to change your password. You can change your password using the following link.
-
-{{.reset_password_url}}/{{.email_address}}/{{.reset_password_token}}
-
-If you have not requested the change, you can ignore this mail.
-
-Your password can only be changed manually by you.
diff --git a/symbol/version.go b/symbol/version.go
index e848417..0eeb1e9 100644
--- a/symbol/version.go
+++ b/symbol/version.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ var (
 	// VersionPatch is for backwards-compatible bug fixes.
 	VersionPatch int64 = 1
 	// VersionPre indicates prerelease.
-	VersionPre = "beta"
+	VersionPre = "beta-1"
 	// VersionDev indicates development branch. Releases will be empty string.
 	VersionDev string
 )