diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte b/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte
index 11a1b787..a093ab30 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte
@@ -29,9 +29,14 @@ const receiver = $derived(
 	class="rounded-sm border border-l-[3px] border-line border-l-brand-mint bg-surface px-3 py-2 shadow-sm transition-colors hover:border-brand-mint focus:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-brand-navy"
 >
 	{#if entry.title}
-		<span class="font-serif text-sm font-bold break-words whitespace-pre-line text-ink"
-			>{entry.title}</span
-		>
+		<!-- ✉ + sr-only label are static chrome rendered as sibling nodes, NEVER
+		     interpolated into the escaped user title; the title keeps its own
+		     pre-line span for multi-line OCR text (REQ-008/016/021). -->
+		<span class="font-serif text-sm font-bold break-words text-ink">
+			<span aria-hidden="true">✉</span>
+			<span class="sr-only">{m.timeline_letter_glyph_label()}</span>
+			<span class="whitespace-pre-line">{entry.title}</span>
+		</span>
 	{/if}
 	<span class="mt-0.5 font-sans text-xs break-words text-ink-3">
 		<span class="font-serif whitespace-pre-line">{sender}</span>
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte.spec.ts b/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte.spec.ts
index 28df3886..f9c928bc 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/timeline/LetterCard.svelte.spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { describe, it, expect, afterEach } from 'vitest';
 import { cleanup, render } from 'vitest-browser-svelte';
+import * as m from '$lib/paraglide/messages.js';
 import LetterCard from './LetterCard.svelte';
 import { timelineDateLabel } from './dateLabel';
 import { makeEntry } from './test-factories';
@@ -55,4 +56,34 @@ describe('LetterCard', () => {
 		const link = document.querySelector('a') as HTMLAnchorElement;
 		expect(link.getBoundingClientRect().height).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(44);
 	});
+
+	it('prefixes a present title with an aria-hidden ✉ and an sr-only "Brief" label (REQ-008)', () => {
+		render(LetterCard, { entry: makeEntry({ title: 'Brief aus Stettin', documentId: DOC_ID }) });
+		const hidden = document.querySelector('[aria-hidden="true"]');
+		expect(hidden?.textContent).toContain('✉');
+		const srOnly = document.querySelector('.sr-only');
+		expect(srOnly?.textContent).toBe(m.timeline_letter_glyph_label());
+		// The glyph is decorative chrome — the document link is unchanged.
+		const link = document.querySelector('a') as HTMLAnchorElement;
+		expect(link.getAttribute('href')).toBe(`/documents/${DOC_ID}`);
+	});
+
+	it('renders no ✉ glyph and no "Brief" label when the title is empty (REQ-016)', () => {
+		render(LetterCard, {
+			entry: makeEntry({ title: '', senderName: 'Karl', receiverName: 'Elfriede' })
+		});
+		expect(document.body.textContent).not.toContain('✉');
+		expect(document.querySelector('.sr-only')).toBeNull();
+		// The row still shows sender → receiver and the date.
+		expect(document.body.textContent).toContain('Karl');
+		expect(document.body.textContent).toContain('Elfriede');
+		expect(document.querySelector('[data-testid="letter-date"]')).not.toBeNull();
+	});
+
+	it('renders an HTML-bearing title verbatim as text, never as markup (security, REQ-021)', () => {
+		const evil = '<script>alert(1)</script>';
+		render(LetterCard, { entry: makeEntry({ title: evil }) });
+		expect(document.body.textContent).toContain(evil);
+		expect(document.querySelector('a script')).toBeNull();
+	});
 });