Alice and Ellen Kessler, the German performers known as the Kessler Twins , died together Monday in an assisted suicide in Germany. They were 89.

Born on August 20, 1936, in Nazi Germany, the identical twins rose to international stardom in the 1950s and 1960s as dynamic dancers, singers and actresses. Their career began in ballet at the Leipzig Opera, and, after fleeing East Germany for the West in 1952, they found fame performing at the Lido cabaret in Paris.

They shared the stage with such legends as Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire and Harry Belafonte and represented West Germany in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest. They later became beloved European entertainment figures, particularly in Italy, where their stage presence earned them the nickname “The Nation’s Legs,” after posing in Ita

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