Moving final email sent by devoted couple before 'dying together at Swiss clinic'

A couple told their loved ones they'd "shuffled off this mortal coil" before passing away at a clinic in Switzerland.

Holocaust survivor Ruth Posner, 97, and her UK-born husband Michael, 97, "couldn't bear to be apart" so chose to diewith each other as they noticed their lives were becoming more difficult to live happily.

The Londoners, who were married for 75 years, typed an email to their loved ones which was delivered after their passing on Tuesday. It read: "So sorry not to have mentioned it but when you receive this email we will have 'shuffled off this mortal coil'.

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""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.

"We had an interesting and varied life and except for the sorrow of losing Jeremy, our son. We enjoyed our time together, we tried not to regret the past, live in the present and not to expect too much from the future. Much love Ruth & Mike."

Polish Ruth, who survived the horrors of the holocaust, spent three years on the run after escaping the Warsaw ghetto before settling in the UK aged 16. She managed to avoid detection by posing as a Catholic schoolgirl. Meanwhile, the rest of her family was being wiped out at the Treblinka extermination camp, northeast of the Polish capital.

Not knowing a word of English when she arrived, she set out to become a dancer, studying at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre.

She then moved into acting, starring in a number of roles in Leon The Pig Farmer, Love Hurts, and TV shows like Casualty and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries.

Ruth and Michael tied the knot with Michael, a British national, who worked as a chemist. The couple travelled the world thanks to Michael's jobs working for Unilever and Unicef.

Ruth and Michael received a tribute in a Campaign Against Antisemitism statement that was issued on Thursday. It read: "We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Ruth Posner BEM, Holocaust survivor and educator, and her husband Michael.

"Thank you, Ruth. You were an inspiration and a shining example of how to use one's voice for good in this world. You will be greatly missed. May their memories be a blessing."

Chief Executive of The Holocaust Educational Trust, Karen Pollock CBE, added: "Ruth was an extraordinary woman. She survived the Radom Ghetto, slave labour and life in hiding under a false identity. By the end of the war, Ruth and her aunt were the only surviving members of her family.

"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. Although then in her eighties, she made it her mission to speak to as many young people as possible about her experiences during the Holocaust.

"She hoped that the leaders of tomorrow would learn the lessons of the past. Ruth was one of a kind. Full of charisma and warmth, she left an impression on everyone she met. We will miss her."