Bavarian economics minister Hubert Aiwanger was found lifeless in a Berlin hotel room on Wednesday evening, and Berlin prosecutors said the preliminary results of an autopsy indicate he died without any third-party involvement. The 55-year-old, who led the Free Voters (Freie Wähler) party at both state and federal level, was discovered at around 7 p.m. at the Hotel Neuer Fritz in the Mitte district, according to a prosecutors' spokesman cited by Berliner Morgenpost.
A homicide unit and the Berlin public prosecutor's office opened a death investigation on Wednesday night. Police said the aim was to establish the precise cause and circumstances of death and to rule out any possible involvement by others. The autopsy has now largely answered the first of those questions, though prosecutors have not publicly stated a cause of death.
Why it matters
Aiwanger was one of the most prominent figures in Bavarian politics, serving as deputy premier and economics minister in the CSU-led state government while also chairing his party nationally. His death prompted Premier Markus Söder to order flags flown at half-mast across Bavaria and to describe the loss as an "absolute tragedy" in comments reported by Berliner Morgenpost. Söder said on Thursday that he intended to continue the CSU's governing coalition with the Free Voters, adding that he wanted to act "in his spirit, in our spirit." He called Aiwanger a defining figure in Bavarian politics whose death leaves a deep gap.
Investigators returned to the hotel on Friday
Crime-scene technicians went back to the Hotel Neuer Fritz on Friday for follow-up work at the site, prosecutors' spokesman Alan Bauer said. He told reporters that the additional checks had produced nothing new and that third-party involvement remained excluded, though he declined to describe the nature of the examinations in detail.
According to Berliner Morgenpost, there were no obvious signs of external force in the room, where Aiwanger's blue jacket was still hanging on a hanger near the entrance. The body was removed late in the night after Wednesday's discovery. The spokesman declined to say who found Aiwanger, citing investigative considerations.
Aiwanger had been staying at the hotel during his time in Berlin. According to media reports cited in the coverage, party colleagues grew worried when he could not be reached and asked hotel staff to open his room, where he was found dead in bed. Earlier on Wednesday afternoon he had been due to speak at the opening of a Free Voters capital office, but he withdrew on health grounds and sent a stand-in, the report said. He later became unreachable.
A political career built in Bavaria
Aiwanger, a native of Lower Bavaria, entered the state parliament with the Free Voters in 2008 and became the party's parliamentary group leader. A decade later, in 2018, the CSU and Free Voters formed a coalition, and he took the economics portfolio and the deputy premier's post. He is survived by two children; his partner is Tanja Schweiger, a Free Voters district administrator.
His party's recent successes were concentrated at home: the Free Voters scored strong results in Bavaria's local elections in the spring, taking numerous district administrator posts from the CSU, according to the report. The party's entry into the Bundestag, a long-standing goal, remained out of reach.
Tributes came from across the political spectrum. State parliament president Ilse Aigner said she was deeply shaken and described Aiwanger's death as a great loss for Bavaria, while Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze also voiced shock. Söder said he was "truly shocked and also hit hard" and that Aiwanger's death had torn a deep gap in Bavarian politics and in the hearts of many people.
Separately, Tobias Gotthardt has taken over the Bavarian economics ministry on an interim basis, according to DIE ZEIT. Monika Gruber criticised the public reaction to Aiwanger's death, WEB.DE reported, and a Free Voters state chairman criticised a Green politician from Hilden over remarks about Aiwanger, according to RP Online.
What to watch: whether prosecutors release a final finding on the cause of death, and when the Free Voters move to fill the leadership posts Aiwanger held at state and federal level.
