Legendary Kessler twins Alice and Ellen image is dead at 89 in apparent euthanasia killing in Grünwald, according to a report — poignant final act. mybatisplus
BERLIN — Alice and Ellen Kessler, twins who danced and sang their way across Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, have died at 89. (Alice was two minutes older.) They took a legal assisted death together on Nov. 17 at their home in Grünwald, a suburb of Munich. The couple’s joint, self-determined decision has been fully endorsed by the German Society for Humane Dying (DGHS), spokesman Mark Frankens told The Guardian, adding that they just wanted to leave together. Nov. 19, 2025.
DGHS said the plan had been long in the making and professionally supported, with a doctor and nurse by his side — standard protections under Germany’s assisted dying process — according to Austria’s public broadcaster ORF.
Police would later confirm that the pair had died in a suicide pact at Ms Baude’s Grünwald home. The twins rocketed to fame in the 1950s, performed with Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire, and even recorded “Viva Las Vegas” in 1964; “Together you’re stronger,” an AP report quotes Alice as saying once.
The former show stars died at home in Grünwald, a suburban community they had made their home for decades, local coverage said, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung.
For context, the twins’ lifelong closeness was not exactly a secret. In a profile in 2011, they described their creed as “Eins plus Eins ist Eins” — one plus one is one — which may explain why Alice and Ellen Kessler both worked and lived together (Swissinfo).
The following summer, a Munich feature to celebrate their 75th reported friendships with Astaire and how they knocked back Elvis Presley — a measure of the brass neck that would also shape their third act at Abendzeitung.
And even in their 80s, when there was coverage of their “combined 160th birthday” that praised their discipline and poise after decades on Europe’s biggest stages, it underlined the sense that Alice and Ellen Kessler remained cultural touchstones at Luxemburger Wort.
Their case also sparks a renewed focus on German rules: active euthanasia is prohibited, but the constitution ensures legality for a self-determined death and voluntary assistance — a system under which Alice and Ellen acted — Die Zeit reported.
