The world of entertainment has lost one of its most iconic duos. German twin sisters Alice and Ellen Kessler, celebrated for their singing and dancing talents during the 1950s and 1960s, have passed away together through a joint assisted suicide. They were both 89 years old.
A Deliberate Farewell
The sisters died on Monday at their home in Grünwald, near Munich, Germany. According to the German newspaper Bild, the twins "no longer wanted to live" and had made the conscious decision to end their lives together. Their wish, as they expressed in an interview last year with Italy’s Corriere della Sera, was always "to leave together, on the same day." They found the alternative—one surviving the other—too difficult to bear.
The German Society for Humane Dying (DGHS) assisted the sisters. The advocacy organization confirmed to CNN that Alice and Ellen contacted them over a year ago and became members. A spokesperson for the DGHS, Wega Wetzel, stated that their desire to die was "well-considered, long-standing and free from any psychiatric crisis."
The Path to a Final Decision
The organization provided a detailed statement, relayed by NBC News, explaining the rigorous process. "A lawyer and a doctor conducted preliminary discussions with them," the statement read. It emphasized that individuals choosing this path in Germany must be "absolutely clear-headed" and that the decision must be "thoughtful and consistent," made over a long period and not on impulse.
Wetzel suggested that the decisive factor was likely their shared desire to die together on a specific date. Local police confirmed their deployment to the twins' residence on Monday around lunchtime and subsequently ruled out any foul play.
Legacy of the Kessler Twins
Born in Nazi Germany, Alice and Ellen's family fled East Germany for West Germany in 1952. Their career took them to Italy in the 1960s, where they even posed on the cover of the Italian edition of Playboy. They acted in various European film productions and made a brief appearance in the Hollywood epic "Sodom and Gomorrah."
The sisters eventually returned to Germany in the 1980s, settling in their home near Munich. They never married. In a final poignant detail reported in April 2024, the twins expressed their wish to have their ashes buried in the same urn, alongside their mother, Elsa, and their dog, Yello.
