Bavarian deputy premier Hubert Aiwanger found dead at Berlin hotel

Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria’s deputy premier, economy minister and chairman of the Free Voters party, was found dead at a Berlin hotel on Wednesday, according to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office and reports by DW. Aiwanger was 55. Police and prosecutors have opened an investigation into the circumstances of his death, saying their aims are to establish the specific cause and determine what happened while ruling out possible foul play.

The reports provide no finding from that investigation. The body was found at the Neuer Fritz Hotel on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin-Mitte, according to the German tabloid Bild, as cited by DW. German news agency dpa reported that Aiwanger had been scheduled to speak at the opening of a party office in Berlin but canceled because he was unwell.

Bavarian state premier Markus Söder said he was “deeply shocked” and described the death as an “absolute tragedy”. In remarks quoted by DW, Söder said his thoughts were first with Aiwanger’s family and children. Aiwanger was elected to Bavaria’s state parliament in 2008 as a Free Voters candidate and became leader of the party’s parliamentary group.

Since 2018, the Free Voters have governed Bavaria in coalition with the centre-right Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party of the federal Christian Democratic Union. As deputy premier and economy minister, Aiwanger became the public face of the Free Voters in Bavaria and nationally. The party, however, never won enough seats to enter the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, according to DW.

His political career was also marked by a national controversy before Bavaria’s 2023 state election. Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Aiwanger had written an antisemitic leaflet while at school in the 1980s, containing references to Nazi-era atrocities including Auschwitz. DW’s report does not provide a new response from Aiwanger or a further finding related to that episode.

Aiwanger leaves behind two children. He was not married but lived with Tanja Schweiger, a Free Voters district administrator. The investigation in Berlin remains active, and authorities have not publicly identified a cause of death or suggested who, if anyone, may be responsible.