diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 632213cc..552aeefc 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ Services are annotated with `@Service`, `@RequiredArgsConstructor`, and optional
 
 ### DTOs
 
-Input DTOs live flat in the domain package. Response types are the model entities themselves (no response DTOs).
+Input DTOs live flat in the domain package. Response types are the model entities themselves (no response DTOs) — **except the geschichte domain**, where every response is a view (`GeschichteView`/`GeschichteSummary`/`JourneyItemView`) assembled inside the service transaction and entities never cross the controller boundary. See [ADR-036](./docs/adr/036-geschichte-responses-are-views-not-entities.md) — lazy collections + `open-in-view: false` make serialized entities a 500 waiting to happen.
 
 - `@Schema(requiredMode = REQUIRED)` on every field the backend always populates — drives TypeScript generation.
 
diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/geschichte/GeschichteService.java b/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/geschichte/GeschichteService.java
index eb71ec19..9df6c131 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/geschichte/GeschichteService.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/org/raddatz/familienarchiv/geschichte/GeschichteService.java
@@ -148,6 +148,9 @@ public class GeschichteService {
             g.setPublishedAt(LocalDateTime.now());
         }
         Geschichte saved = geschichteRepository.save(g);
+        // A freshly created Geschichte has no items by construction — items are only
+        // addable via the separate /items endpoints. Revisit if a create DTO ever
+        // accepts initial items.
         return toView(saved, List.of());
     }
 
diff --git a/docs/adr/036-geschichte-responses-are-views-not-entities.md b/docs/adr/036-geschichte-responses-are-views-not-entities.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..144c71e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/adr/036-geschichte-responses-are-views-not-entities.md
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# ADR-036 — Geschichte responses are views assembled in-transaction, never entities
+
+**Status:** Accepted
+**Date:** 2026-06-10
+**Issue:** #753 (JourneyEditor frontend), PR #792 review
+
+## Context
+
+The project convention (CLAUDE.md §DTOs) has been: *"Response types are the model
+entities themselves (no response DTOs)."* That convention assumed entities whose
+associations are either eager or initialized by the time Jackson serializes.
+
+The lazy-fetch migration (ADR-022, `open-in-view: false`) broke that assumption:
+Jackson serializes **after** the service transaction has closed, so any lazy
+collection on a returned entity is a dead proxy. `Geschichte.items` (added with the
+Lesereisen data model, #750) made this concrete: every `PATCH /api/geschichten/{id}`
+(save draft, publish) failed with HTTP 500
+`LazyInitializationException: Geschichte.items … (no session)`.
+
+Per-endpoint force-initialization (`g.getItems().size()` inside the transaction)
+worked for `getById()` but is a footgun: every new write method must remember the
+trick, the entity carries a warning comment nobody reads, and the raw entity also
+leaks the `author` `AppUser` graph (email, password hash, groups).
+
+## Decision
+
+In the **geschichte domain**, controllers never return entities. Every response is a
+purpose-built read model assembled **inside** the service transaction:
+
+- `GET /api/geschichten` → `GeschichteSummary` (projection; never carries items;
+  author exposes names only — never email)
+- `GET /api/geschichten/{id}` → `GeschichteView` (with `AuthorView`, `PersonView`,
+  `JourneyItemView` items)
+- `POST /api/geschichten`, `PATCH /api/geschichten/{id}` → `GeschichteView`
+- JourneyItem endpoints → `JourneyItemView`
+
+The invariant: **entities never cross the controller boundary in this domain.**
+A view is constructed while the Hibernate session is open, so serialization can
+never touch a lazy proxy, and the response shape is an explicit, security-reviewed
+contract.
+
+## Alternatives rejected
+
+- **`@Transactional` on read/write methods + force-init (`getItems().size()`)** —
+  fixes one endpoint at a time, silently regresses when the next write method is
+  added, and still serializes the raw `AppUser` author graph.
+- **`open-in-view: true`** — re-opens the session during rendering; hides N+1
+  queries and couples the HTTP layer to Hibernate session lifetime. Rejected
+  already by ADR-022.
+- **Jackson `@JsonIgnore` on lazy fields** — loses the data the client needs
+  (items ARE the journey) instead of loading it deliberately.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- CLAUDE.md §DTOs names the geschichte domain as the exception to the
+  entities-as-responses convention. Other domains (document, person, tag) still
+  return entities; they predate ADR-022's lazy collections on their hot paths and
+  migrate opportunistically when they grow lazy collections of their own.
+- `npm run generate:api` must run after any view change — the generated
+  `Geschichte` schema no longer exists; frontend consumers use
+  `GeschichteView`/`GeschichteSummary`.
+- New geschichte endpoints must add a view (or extend an existing one), not return
+  the entity. The regression guards are `GeschichteHttpTest`
+  (`update_returns_200_and_serializes_items_open_in_view_false`) and
+  `GeschichteListProjectionTest`.