Hubert Aiwanger was found dead on Wednesday in a Berlin hotel, ending the career of one of Bavaria’s best-known political figures at 55. The cause of death was not initially known.
He had reportedly not felt well earlier in the day and missed the opening of the Hauptstadtbüro der Freien Wähler in Berlin. His body was later found at the hotel Neuer Fritz on Friedrichstraße in Berlin-Mitte, and his family was informed.
Aiwanger had built a long political profile before that sudden death. Born on 26 January 1971 in Ergoldsbach in Niederbayern, he grew up on a farm, studied agriculture at FH Weihenstephan and became Landesvorsitzender der Freien Wähler Bayern in 2006. He entered the Bayerischer Landtag in 2008, took over the federal party chairmanship in 2010 and, after the 2018 state election, became bayerischer Staatsminister für Wirtschaft, Landesentwicklung und Energie and stellvertretender Ministerpräsident.
He was not married and lived with Tanja Schweiger, the Landrätin des Landkreises Regensburg. They had two sons together. That private picture now sits beside the public one: a senior party leader and state minister whose death was confirmed on the same day he had pulled out of a Berlin appearance because he was unwell.
The missing detail is the one that matters most. BILD said sources in the bayerische Staatsregierung and the Berliner Polizei confirmed his death, while police were later seen outside the hotel that evening. Cem Özdemir and Wolfgang Kubicki both reacted on X, calling attention to Aiwanger’s combative style and the mark he left on Bavarian politics. What remains unresolved is how he died.
