A Holocaust survivor and her husband chose to end their lives through assisted suicide at a clinic in Switzerland. Ruth Posner, who was 96 years old, had escaped the Warsaw ghetto and arrived in the UK at 16 after losing her entire family in the Treblinka concentration camp. Only she and her aunt survived.
Ruth was not just a survivor; she was also a dancer, actress, author, and Holocaust witness. She received the British Empire Medal, a prestigious award given to people recognized for their contributions to society.
Before their deaths, Ruth and her 97-year-old husband Michael planned to send an email to their family and friends. The email explained their decision: “Dear family and friends, we are sorry for not telling you earlier, but by the time you receive this email, we will have ‘rid ourselves of this deadly burden’.”
The couple felt that they had reached a point where losing their senses and energy made life unbearable. They stated that they could no longer live fully, only exist, and that no medical care could improve their situation.
They insisted their decision was mutual and made without any outside pressure. However, a friend of Ruth’s expressed concern that Michael might have influenced the decision too much, fearing he had decided for both of them.
Neither Ruth nor Michael had a medical certificate stating they had less than six months to live, which is a requirement for many clinics that offer assisted suicide. After being turned away by the Dignitas clinic in Zurich for this reason, they went to Pegasos clinic near Basel, which did not ask for such certificates.
This article has been translated and simplified by artificial intelligence from a French article “Refusés par Dignitas, acceptés par Pegasos : un couple de nonagénaires se suicide en Suisse”
It may therefore contain errors. The French version is the reference version..