SAD END as Minister Found Dead in Hotel (PHOTO)

A prominent German politician has been found dead in a Berlin hotel room just hours before he was due to give a speech in the capital.

Police say they are investigating the sudden death of Hubert Aiwanger, 55, who has served as deputy premier of the state of Bavaria and been leader of a small conservative party in Germany.

Berlin police and prosecutors said in a statement: “The aim of the inquest is to establish the specific cause of death and the circumstances surrounding it, and to rule out any possible third-party culpability.”

The dad-of-two’s body was found on Wednesday evening at the Neuer Fritz Hotel on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin-Mitte.

Cops are yet to release any further details.

Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder paid tribute to his second-in-command saying: “The sudden death of Hubert Aiwanger is a terrible tragedy.

“We are all deeply shocked. Our thoughts are now first and foremost with his family and his children. We mourn with them and pray for them.”

Aiwanger was also Bavaria’s economy minister and leader of the Free Voters party.

He was in Berlin for the opening of a party office in the German capital but hadn’t shown up for the event as he fell ill shortly before, reports Bild.

Aiwanger had come under serious scrutiny back in 2023 after reports he wrote an antisemitic pamphlet as a 17-year-old.

The words described Auschwitz as an “entertainment quarter”.

The top politician denied having written the pamphlet but admitted to keeping “one or a few copies” in his school bag at the time.

Aiwanger was not married but lived with long-term partner Tanja Schweiger, a district administrator for the Free Voters party.