diff --git a/public/.htaccess b/public/.htaccess
index e6f10cf..bfb124d 100644
--- a/public/.htaccess
+++ b/public/.htaccess
@@ -356,6 +356,12 @@ AddDefaultCharset utf-8
 	# Emergency off without TYPO3: delete the flag file.
 	RewriteCond /usr/www/users/vitecevo/live/var/vitec-ssr-on.flag -f
 	RewriteRule ^$ https://vitec-ssr.evomedien.de/ [P,L,E=SSRPROXY:1]
+	# mod_dir turns "/" into "/index.html" via DirectoryIndex subrequest
+	# before the rule above can proxy it (found 2026-11-09 evening: the
+	# SSR node logged GET /index.html -> /_json/index.html -> 404).
+	# Catch that spelling and send it to the node as the homepage:
+	RewriteCond /usr/www/users/vitecevo/live/var/vitec-ssr-on.flag -f
+	RewriteRule ^index\.html$ https://vitec-ssr.evomedien.de/ [P,L,E=SSRPROXY:1]
 	# Flag ON: the hashed JS/CSS files come from the VPS release too
 	# (0054-FE 5.1 / 0055-BE question 1). No !-f guard on purpose: a
 	# same-named file from an older local SPA build must not win, the
diff --git a/public/_frontend/.htaccess b/public/_frontend/.htaccess
index 52d7f05..67c07cf 100644
--- a/public/_frontend/.htaccess
+++ b/public/_frontend/.htaccess
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@ RewriteBase /_frontend/
 
 RewriteRule ^index\.html$ - [L]
 
+# SSR flag ON: hashed assets are served from the VPS release - its hashes
+# must win over any local build, and the fallback below must never answer
+# an asset request with index.html (the browser would get HTML as JS).
+# This directory's .htaccess overrides the root one for /_frontend/*, so
+# the rule has to live HERE, not in public/.htaccess (2026-11-09).
+RewriteCond /usr/www/users/vitecevo/live/var/vitec-ssr-on.flag -f
+RewriteRule ^assets/(.*)$ https://vitec-ssr.evomedien.de/_frontend/assets/$1 [P,L]
+
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
 RewriteRule ^ - [L]