diff --git a/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/dao/CouchDBDao.java b/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/dao/CouchDBDao.java
index 8cc9a265deb303a2a179275af7ce9e590ed6e411..7c6e3eb6e111c0860cadb56a22af8a22bc1e0397 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/dao/CouchDBDao.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/thm/arsnova/dao/CouchDBDao.java
@@ -566,7 +566,8 @@ public class CouchDBDao implements IDatabaseDao, ApplicationEventPublisherAware
 
 	private int getExpectedMigrationLevel() throws IOException {
 		Document d = database.getDocument("arsnova_migrations");
-		return d.getInt("version");
+
+		return d == null ? -1 : d.getInt("version");
 	}
 
 	@Caching(evict = {@CacheEvict(value = "skillquestions", key = "#session"),