Holocaust survivor Ruth Posner and husband die at Swiss clinic, tributes pour in

Ruth Posner, a 96-year-old actress and Holocaust survivor, and her husband Michael, 97, died at a Swiss suicide clinic, according to family statements reported Thursday. The couple, longtime residents of Belsize Park in north London, informed relatives in an email that they had 'shuffled off this mortal coil' and had chosen to end their lives together after almost 75 years of marriage. Neither had a terminal illness, they wrote, but 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.

Posner's life bridged survival and the stage. She fled the Warsaw Ghetto with her aunt using a falsified passport, spent three years on the run posing as a Catholic school student, and lost the rest of her family to Treblinka. After arriving in the United Kingdom at age 16, she did not speak English but quickly trained as a dancer and studied theatre arts in New York before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company. She became a familiar face on stage and screen, with film roles in Leon the Pig Farmer and Love Hurts, as well as TV credits in Casualty and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. In 2022 she was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education.

Posner married Michael in 1950; the couple traveled the world while he worked as a chemist for Unilever and UNICEF. They faced tragedy when their son Jeremy died at 37 during treatment for heroin addiction. The couple are survived by a grandson. Friend Sonja Linden, artistic director and playwright who knew them for about 30 years, told The Times Posner was 'frail' and her husband suffered from macular degeneration and poor hearing, but 'they remained intellectually very well' and had no severe illnesses.

Zurich's Dignitas clinic would not assist the couple because they did not have a doctor's note saying they had less than six months to live, per the clinic's policy. Instead, they ended their lives at the Pegasos clinic near Basel. Posner and Linden had collaborated on a 2014 theatre production about her experiences during the Holocaust titled Who Do We Think We Are? After the war, Posner continued to teach and perform; she received the British Empire Medal in 2022 for services to Holocaust education.

Tributes poured in from organizations and colleagues. Campaign Against Antisemitism said, 'We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Ruth Posner BEM, Holocaust survivor and educator, and her husband Michael.' The Holocaust Educational Trust's Karen Pollock CBE described Posner as 'an extraordinary woman' who survived the Radom Ghetto, slave labour and life in hiding under a false identity, then used her voice to educate young people about the lessons of the Holocaust. 'After a dazzling career in theatre and dance, Ruth decided to begin sharing her testimony as a response to rising levels of antisemitism in the UK,' Pollock said. The Times noted that Posner was saddened by the loss of her son Jeremy but remained engaged in education and the arts. The family asked for privacy as they processed the loss.

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