Bavaria's deputy premier Aiwanger found dead in Berlin hotel at 55; police investigate cause of death

Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria's deputy premier and economy minister and leader of the Free Voters (Freie Wähler) party, was found dead in a hotel room in central Berlin on Wednesday evening (November 4), aged 55. Berlin police and prosecutors have opened a death investigation to establish the cause and circumstances of his death and to rule out any third-party involvement; no official cause of death has been released. (Photo: file photo of Hubert Aiwanger.)

He had missed a party office opening after feeling unwell

Aiwanger had travelled to Berlin for the opening of the Free Voters' Berlin office but missed the event after feeling unwell, the Bild newspaper reported. Hotel staff opened his room at the request of the party's federal executive and found him dead. The hotel is near Friedrichstrasse station in Berlin's Mitte district. The Berlin public prosecutor's office confirmed the death on Wednesday evening, and homicide detectives and forensic teams are working at the hotel. An autopsy is expected to be ordered.

Media report natural cause presumed; not an official finding

German media reported that a natural cause was being presumed as the current assumption, with the Tagesspiegel reporting no indications of outside involvement; other reports cited party colleagues as saying Aiwanger had gastroenteritis. None of those accounts is an official determination, and police stressed the investigation's purpose is to establish the specific cause and circumstances.

Premier Söder calls it a 'terrible tragedy'

Bavarian Premier Markus Söder said in a statement published on the state government website: 'The sudden death of Hubert Aiwanger is a terrible tragedy. We are all deeply shocked.' He expressed condolences to Aiwanger's family. Born on January 26, 1971, in Ergoldsbach, Lower Bavaria, Aiwanger studied agricultural sciences at Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences. He had served as Bavaria's deputy minister-president and minister for economic affairs, regional development and energy since 2018, with the Free Voters governing in coalition with the Christian Social Union since 2018. In 2023 he faced national scrutiny over allegations that he wrote an antisemitic pamphlet as a schoolboy.

(Sources: Reuters, The Berlin Spectator, DW, November 5, 2026.)