Hey kamaln7,
I tried your suggestion and it messed up the layout even more - I loaded the qwertz and then selected "german" - now i cant even find the "-" anymore. I will reset kernel now so at least i can run some code again. Any other ideas what it might be? havent found anything on this issue on the web, looks like a digital ocean only bug. Thank you for your help guys.
Best Leo

Try installing the console-data package to configure your droplet's console to use the German keyboard layout:

sudo apt-get install console-data

If it's already installed, run

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-data

I also have the same issue.
The method proposed by kamain7 looks promising but doesn't work for me.
I use FR layout keyboard on a Asus laptop and the whole figure row at the top of the keyboard doesn't return the propoer character as it is supposed to.
For instance :
& (key 1) becomes 7
" (key 3) becomes '
( (key 5) becomes 9

I don't recognized any layout I know until now.

The method described above didn't help out. Any idea?

Thank you.

same for the swiss.
nightmare: a joke