Who were the Kessler Twins? Germany’s dance legends, die together at 89 by assisted suicide

Popular German twin entertainers, Alice and Ellen Kessler, have died at the age of 89 through joint assisted suicide. The duo rose to fame across Europe and the United States in the 1950s and 60s. According to the German Society for Humane Dying (DGHS), they died on November 17 at their home in Grunwald, a suburb of Munich.

As per a Bild report, the sisters always wanted to “go together” and had reached the stage where they “no longer wanted to live.” The DGHS further added that their request had been properly considered and made without any psychiatric distress. "The decisive factor is likely to have been the desire to die together on a specific date," DGHS spokesperson Wega Wetzel said to CNN.

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What is assisted suicide in Germany

In Germany, assisted dying or assisted suicide became legal after a landmark 2020 ruling, which said that an individual has the right to end their life under certain circumstances. It takes place with third-party assistance, provided there is no external pressure. According to the rules, patients administer the prescribed medication themselves.

According to reports, the Kessler twins contacted the DGHS on their own more than a year ago and became members. It is said that local police confirmed a response at their home on Monday, but no signs of foul play were reported.

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The career of the Kessler twins

The twins, named Alice and Ellen, were born in 1936 in what is now Grimma, Saxony. They took training in classical ballet before leaving communist East Germany in 1952. It was the director of Paris’s famed Le Lido who identified their talent and gave them international stages.

Soon after, in they reached early twenties, the twins gained global recognition due to their immaculate synchronization, elegance, and signature blonde coiffed look. Alice and Ellen also represented Germany in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest. Life magazine and The Ed Sullivan Show had also featured the talented dancers. Reportedly, they were close with several Hollywood celebrities, including Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Rock Hudson.

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They were also popular in Italy as the first showgirls to appear on national television. However, because of conservative norms at the time, they were asked to wear opaque tights. Interestingly, their legs earned the nickname “the legs of the nation." The twins also featured in a 1976 nude Playboy cover, which sold out within hours.

In the 80s, though their showgirl era faded, they continued to perform in theater productions across Berlin, Munich, and Vienna, and made guest appearances on German television.

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Alice and Ellen's personal lives

The twins never got married and shared not just their career but also their daily lives. Reportedly, they used to live in two mirrored, connected apartments in Grunwald, where the sister gathered each day for lunch. In several interviews, they often opened up about their strong bond and their fear of one sister outliving the other.

It was just last year when they told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that they wished “to go away together on the same day.” They also revealed the wish that their ashes should be interred together in one urn, alongside their mother, Elsa, and their dog Yello.

The mayor of Grimma, Tino Kießig, called their death “the loss of two world-renowned personalities.”