At the age of 89, twin sisters and major entertainers, Alice and Ellen Kessler, died in November this year. After dedicating much of their life to performing, the sisters desired to die together at the same time, on the same day.  They contacted the DGHS, which in English is the German Society for Humane Dying, and scheduled a date. The decision was not the result of any kind of psychiatric crisis, as many have been quick to claim.  The sisters simply could not imagine one outliving the other. It took some time to finalize the details but the sisters eventually decided that they wanted to be cremated and interred in the same urn.

The sisters were extremely popular in the 50’s and 60’s and were considered to be a perfect personification of the decades aesthetic. They had been involved in ballet and the art of dance since childhood. Their careers only began to take off in Paris, but this did not last long as they graduated to bigger things. In 1959, the girls represented the whole of Germany as they were invited to compete in the Eurovision song contest. Their popularity and success has grown to such a height that they became involved with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Their performances went global as they appeared on Italian television as the first female stars to show their legs. And in 1976 they were featured in an issue of Playboy magazine. 

As the twins grew older they may have began to slow down, but their career was anything but over. They went on to star in musicals as well as a number of German programs. The Italian public was especially rocked by the news of their deaths as Alice and Ellen were dearly beloved for their talent and beauty. Italian TV spent weeks playing reruns of their films to honor them.