After nearly 75 years of marriage, Holocaust survivor and actress Ruth Posner, 96, and her husband Michael, 97, made a heartbreaking but deeply personal decision.
The devoted couple passed away side by side at a Swiss assisted dying clinic, leaving behind an emotional farewell note to their loved ones.
Their Final Goodbye
The couple, who lived in Belsize Park, north London, sent an email to family and friends before their passing. It read:
“So sorry not to have mentioned it but when you receive this email we will have ‘shuffled off this mortal coil’.
The decision was mutual and without any outside pressure. We had lived a long life and together for almost 75 years.
There came a point when failing senses, of sight and hearing and lack of energy was not living but existing that no care would improve.”
They signed the message simply, “Much love, Ruth & Mike.”
Why They Chose This Path
Although neither Ruth nor Michael was suffering from a terminal illness, both had declining health and felt life was becoming more about survival than living.
Friends described Ruth as frail and Michael as struggling with macular degeneration and poor hearing. Yet, intellectually, they remained sharp.
Originally, the Zurich-based Dignitas clinic would not accept them without a doctor’s note confirming they had less than six months to live.
Instead, they found acceptance at the Pegasos clinic near Basel, where they carried out their final wish together.
A Legacy of Strength and Survival
Ruth’s life was nothing short of extraordinary. Born in Poland, she survived the horrors of the Holocaust after escaping the Warsaw ghetto with a falsified passport and posing as a Catholic schoolgirl.
While most of her family were murdered at Treblinka, she and her aunt managed to survive.
At 16, she arrived in the UK unable to speak English but quickly trained as a dancer at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre.
Her career later took her to acting school in New York, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and eventually into film and television.
From Stage to Screen
Over eight decades, Ruth became a familiar face on screen, appearing in Leon the Pig Farmer, Love Hurts, Casualty, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, and more recently, as Polish princess Katya in the BBC comedy Count Arthur Strong.
She married Michael in 1950, and together they travelled the world thanks to his work as a chemist for Unilever and Unicef.
Despite a glamorous and rich life together, they also endured heartbreak when their son Jeremy died at 37 while recovering from heroin addiction.
They are survived by a grandson.
Tributes From Friends and Colleagues
The couple’s decision has left their friends grieving. Playwright Sonja Linden, a close friend for 30 years, admitted she and others only found out after receiving the email.
“They had such a lovely flat packed with art and books, and I can’t imagine them not being there,” she said.
She recalled working with Ruth on the 2014 theatre production Who Do We Think We Are?, which explored her Holocaust experiences.
An Educator Until the End
In her later years, Ruth dedicated her life to Holocaust education.
Awarded a British Empire Medal in 2022, she shared her testimony with countless young people, determined to combat antisemitism and ensure the horrors of the past were never forgotten.
Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, called her “an extraordinary woman” who left a lasting impression on everyone she met.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism added: “Thank you, Ruth. You were an inspiration and a shining example of how to use one’s voice for good.”
A Couple Remembered
For friends, family, and admirers, Ruth and Michael’s story will forever be remembered as one of resilience, love, and commitment—both to each other and to the wider world.
As their farewell note made clear, theirs was a life lived fully, and they chose to leave it the same way—together.