diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte
index a739f6db..1df3c75e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte
@@ -68,13 +68,18 @@ function formatTimeHHMM(iso: string): string {
 const actorName: string = $derived(item.actor?.name ?? item.actor?.initials ?? '?');
 const docTitle: string = $derived(item.documentTitle);
 
-// The visible verb phrase (split so we can render the document title as a styled span).
-// We compute the text once and then split it on the document title string — a pragmatic
-// choice that lets translators keep the sentence natural while we still style the doc link.
+// We split the translated verb around the document title so the title can be
+// rendered as a styled <span> inside the <a> without nesting anchors. Using a
+// non-printable sentinel (U+0001) as the {doc} interpolation value lets us
+// split the compiled message regardless of what the actual title contains —
+// empty strings, short substrings that also appear in the verb, and any
+// translator sentence order all work without special cases.
+const SENTINEL = '\u0001';
+
 const verbText: string = $derived(
 	variant === 'rollup'
-		? verbRollup(item.kind, actorName, docTitle, item.count)
-		: verbSingleton(item.kind, actorName, docTitle)
+		? verbRollup(item.kind, actorName, SENTINEL, item.count)
+		: verbSingleton(item.kind, actorName, SENTINEL)
 );
 
 const timeLabel: string = $derived(
@@ -83,13 +88,12 @@ const timeLabel: string = $derived(
 		: relativeTime(item.happenedAt)
 );
 
-// Split the verb text around the document title so the title can be styled without nesting anchors.
 const verbParts: { before: string; after: string } = $derived.by(() => {
-	const idx = verbText.indexOf(docTitle);
+	const idx = verbText.indexOf(SENTINEL);
 	if (idx === -1) return { before: verbText, after: '' };
 	return {
 		before: verbText.slice(0, idx),
-		after: verbText.slice(idx + docTitle.length)
+		after: verbText.slice(idx + SENTINEL.length)
 	};
 });
 </script>
@@ -133,8 +137,9 @@ const verbParts: { before: string; after: string } = $derived.by(() => {
 	<!-- Body -->
 	<div class="min-w-0 flex-1">
 		<p class="font-sans text-sm leading-snug text-ink">
-			{verbParts.before}<span class="underline decoration-accent underline-offset-2"
-				>{docTitle}</span
+			{verbParts.before}<span
+				data-testid="chronik-doc-title"
+				class="underline decoration-accent underline-offset-2">{docTitle}</span
 			>{verbParts.after}
 			{#if variant === 'rollup'}
 				<span
@@ -149,15 +154,18 @@ const verbParts: { before: string; after: string } = $derived.by(() => {
 		{#if variant === 'comment'}
 			<!--
 				TODO: the backend does not yet expose a comment body preview on
-				ActivityFeedItemDTO. For now we render the document title as a placeholder
-				so the comment variant structure is already in place; swap this to
-				item.commentPreview (or similar) once the DTO gains the field.
+				ActivityFeedItemDTO. Render an ellipsis placeholder until it does —
+				duplicating the document title here looks like the comment is
+				quoting itself (Leonie, PR #288 review).
+				SECURITY: once item.commentPreview lands, render via {text}, never
+				{@html}. The backend must truncate and strip tags server-side (Nora,
+				issue #285 comment #3552).
 			-->
 			<p
 				data-testid="chronik-comment-preview"
 				class="mt-1 line-clamp-1 font-serif text-sm text-ink-2 italic sm:line-clamp-2"
 			>
-				&bdquo;{docTitle}&ldquo;
+				&bdquo;&hellip;&ldquo;
 			</p>
 		{/if}
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte.spec.ts b/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte.spec.ts
index 41800bf8..a4234361 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/components/chronik/ChronikRow.svelte.spec.ts
@@ -118,4 +118,37 @@ describe('ChronikRow', () => {
 		const preview = document.querySelector('[data-testid="chronik-comment-preview"]');
 		expect(preview).not.toBeNull();
 	});
+
+	it('comment preview does NOT duplicate the document title verbatim', async () => {
+		// Leonie: user sees the title twice otherwise — looks like the comment is quoting itself.
+		// Until the backend exposes item.commentPreview, the placeholder must be distinct.
+		const item: ActivityFeedItemDTO = {
+			...baseItem,
+			kind: 'COMMENT_ADDED',
+			documentTitle: 'Brief vom 12. Juli 1920'
+		};
+		render(ChronikRow, { item });
+		const preview = document.querySelector('[data-testid="chronik-comment-preview"]');
+		expect(preview).not.toBeNull();
+		expect(preview?.textContent).not.toContain('Brief vom 12. Juli 1920');
+	});
+
+	// --- robustness: title rendering for edge cases ---
+	it('still renders the row link when documentTitle is an empty string', async () => {
+		// Felix: verbText.indexOf(docTitle) returned 0 for empty titles — the span
+		// collapsed and before/after both emptied out. Swap to a sentinel-based
+		// approach so this case renders like every other row.
+		const empty: ActivityFeedItemDTO = { ...baseItem, documentTitle: '' };
+		render(ChronikRow, { item: empty });
+		const link = document.querySelector('a[href="/documents/doc-1"]');
+		expect(link).not.toBeNull();
+	});
+
+	it('renders a short document title that could substring-match the verb', async () => {
+		const short: ActivityFeedItemDTO = { ...baseItem, documentTitle: 'Brief' };
+		render(ChronikRow, { item: short });
+		const titleEls = document.querySelectorAll('[data-testid="chronik-doc-title"]');
+		expect(titleEls.length).toBe(1);
+		expect(titleEls[0].textContent).toBe('Brief');
+	});
 });