diff --git a/lib/TextBox.js b/lib/TextBox.js
index 0aca54c..ab9e048 100644
--- a/lib/TextBox.js
+++ b/lib/TextBox.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import {
   assign,
   bind,
+  isUndefined,
   pick
 } from 'min-dash';
 
@@ -212,6 +213,7 @@ TextBox.prototype.handlePaste = function(e) {
 };
 
 TextBox.prototype.insertText = function(text) {
+  text = normalizeEndOfLineSequences(text);
 
   // insertText command not supported by Internet Explorer
   var success = document.execCommand('insertText', false, text);
@@ -452,3 +454,13 @@ TextBox.prototype.setSelection = function(container, offset) {
   selection.removeAllRanges();
   selection.addRange(range);
 };
+
+// helpers //////////
+
+function normalizeEndOfLineSequences(string, endOfLineSequence) {
+  if (isUndefined(endOfLineSequence)) {
+    endOfLineSequence = '\n';
+  }
+
+  return string.replace(/\r\n|\r|\n/g, endOfLineSequence);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/DirectEditingSpec.js b/test/DirectEditingSpec.js
index b17a2f9..fdfbb32 100644
--- a/test/DirectEditingSpec.js
+++ b/test/DirectEditingSpec.js
@@ -646,6 +646,50 @@ describe('diagram-js-direct-editing', function() {
         expect(directEditing._textbox.content.innerHTML).to.eql('FOO<video src=1 onerror=alert(\'hueh\')>');
       }));
 
+
+      it('should preserve line breaks (LF)', inject(function(canvas, directEditing) {
+
+        // given
+        var shape = {
+          id: 's1',
+          x: 20, y: 10, width: 60, height: 50,
+          label: 'FOO'
+        };
+        canvas.addShape(shape);
+
+        directEditing.activate(shape);
+
+        var textBox = directEditing._textbox;
+
+        // when
+        textBox.insertText('Foo\n\nBar');
+
+        // then
+        expect(directEditing._textbox.content.innerHTML).to.eql('FOOFoo<div><br></div><div>Bar</div>');
+      }));
+
+
+      it('should preserve line breaks (CRLF)', inject(function(canvas, directEditing) {
+
+        // given
+        var shape = {
+          id: 's1',
+          x: 20, y: 10, width: 60, height: 50,
+          label: 'FOO'
+        };
+        canvas.addShape(shape);
+
+        directEditing.activate(shape);
+
+        var textBox = directEditing._textbox;
+
+        // when
+        textBox.insertText('Foo\r\n\r\nBar');
+
+        // then
+        expect(directEditing._textbox.content.innerHTML).to.eql('FOOFoo<div><br></div><div>Bar</div>');
+      }));
+
     });
 
   });