[BUG] Hardcoded enforced character replacement of „“ --> „" always breaks JSON

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Claude code is postprocessing quite apparently a german „String“ into a „String", i.e. “ --> " .

Asking claude code to create a test file with said characters does not work. it is always replaced.

• opener: bytes \xe2\x80\x9e (U+201E) — works correctly ✓
• closer: byte \x22 (ASCII ", U+0022) — should have been \xe2\x80\x9c (U+201C) ✗

This happens literally always, however hard Claude tries to produce the closing “ character, and it continuously breaks e.g. JSON output that contains german citations in "This is a string with a german „Citation“."

What Should Happen?

Don't force character replacement of „“ --> „" (probably in your postprocessing)

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Ask Claude code to produce a string containing german „“, as in in "This is a string with a german „Citation“."

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.119

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_