Bavaria deputy premier found dead in Berlin hotelWorld

The cause of death had not yet been determined, and an investigation had been opened. Officials have not yet released any further details about the circumstances in which he was found.

Aiwanger was in Berlin to attend a coalition committee meeting. The Free Voters party confirmed his death, and Bavarian premier Markus Soder said he had learned of it with great consternation.

German media reported the death, with the report attributed to German daily Die Welt. The news spread quickly through German politics, where Aiwanger was a well-known figure in Bavarian state politics.

Aiwanger had said a day earlier that he would step down as leader of the Free Voters at the party’s next conference, while remaining in his other posts. That announcement had already been a significant development in Bavarian politics before news of his death emerged.

The Free Voters are not represented in the federal parliament, but they are a junior partner in the Bavarian state government led by Soder. Aiwanger served as deputy premier in that government and was one of the most prominent voices of the party at state level.

His career had also been marked by controversy. In 2023, a leaflet containing antisemitic content was found in his schoolbag from his time as a student. Aiwanger denied writing it but later admitted that copies of the leaflet had been distributed.

He was also known for criticising Bavaria’s 10H rule, under which wind turbines must be built at a distance at least 10 times their height from residential buildings. The rule has long been a point of debate in Bavarian energy policy.

On his health, the reports note that Aiwanger suffered a stroke in 2018 and was treated for a severe lung infection in 2019. No connection has been drawn between that history and his death, and officials have said the cause is still to be determined.

For Bavaria, the death removes a central figure of the state government at a moment when the coalition was meeting in Berlin. The Free Voters will now have to decide how to fill the gap left by the loss of their leader and the state’s deputy premier.

Further information is expected once prosecutors and police complete their initial inquiries and once an official account of the cause of death is available. Until then, the confirmed facts remain the place and timing of the discovery, the statement from prosecutors, and the confirmation of his death by his party.