German pop duo who last year expressed their wish to ‘leave together’ reportedly had a joint assisted death at their home in Grünwald.
Alice and Ellen Kessler, the German twin sisters who became famous in the 1950s as a performance duo, have passed away at the age of 89. Their deaths happened through joint assisted suicide, according to the German Society for Humane Dying (DGHS), which supports people in making end-of-life decisions. The DGHS shared the news on Tuesday.
Local police confirmed to CNN that there was a police deployment in Gruenwald, a quiet neighborhood near Munich where the twins lived. However, they did not explain why the police were called in.
More than a year ago, the twins reached out to the DGHS, which helps people connect with lawyers and doctors. The organization shared this information with CNN on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for DGHS, Wega Wetzel, told CNN that the main reason for their choice was likely wanting to die together on a specific date. She did not know the exact reasons each woman gave for her decision.
“Their desire to die was well-considered, long-standing, and free from any psychiatric crisis,” Wetzel said.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera last year, the twins said they wanted to “go away together on the same day.” They also mentioned that the idea of one of them passing away first was very hard to accept.
Ellen Kessler told the German newspaper Bild that they wanted their ashes to be placed in the same urn, along with their mother Elsa and their dog Yello.
In Germany, assisted dying is allowed under certain conditions. This was made legal after the country’s highest court ruled in 2020 that people have the right to end their lives with help from a third party, as long as they are not being forced to do so.
Known for their blonde hair, long legs, and skills in singing and dancing, the Kessler twins represented the style of showgirls in the 1950s and 1960s.
As children, they studied classical ballet and left East Germany in 1952 to pursue their dream of dancing. Soon after, the twins started working at the Lido in Paris, a place famous for cabaret shows, and they quickly became well known beyond that scene.
They stood for Germany in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest, performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show” multiple times, were pictured on the cover of Life magazine, and were part of a group that included some of the biggest names of the time, such as Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Rock Hudson.
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“The Ed Sullivan Show” shared a tribute on social media, calling the Kessler twins “dazzling stars, true legends, and sisters whose grace, charm, and magic will shine forever.”
Fame in Italy
The sisters soon became famous in Italy as well. They made history by being the first showgirls to appear on Italian television and the first female stars to show their legs on screen, according to Eurovision. However, they had to wear thick tights because of the strict Christian conservative beliefs of that time, said the state broadcaster RAI. Anyway, their legs were called “the legs of the country.”
When they posed naked for the Italian version of Playboy in 1976, the magazine sold out in just three hours, according to Eurovision’s website.
They also appeared in Italian movies and on stage, becoming so famous that the state broadcaster RAI released a detailed plan on Tuesday for how it would cover their deaths, both in the news and by replaying old TV shows featuring them.
Their careers in entertainment lasted long after the showgirl era ended. They also made appearances on German TV and starred in a musical that played in Berlin, Munich, and Vienna from 2015 to 2016.
Their lives were connected in more ways than just their shared career. They lived in “two mirrored, connected apartments,” the sisters told Corriere della Sera last year, and met every day at noon for lunch.
The twins were born in a village that is now part of Grimma, a town in Saxony.
Tino Kießig, the mayor of Grimma, said in a statement on Monday that the town “mourns the loss of these two world-renowned personalities.”
