A German right-wing, scandal-ridden politician who was the second-in-command of the Bavarian government has been found dead in a Berlin hotel room — as investigators are unable to rule out foul play. 

Hubert Aiwanger, the leader of the populist Free Voters party, was in the German capital Wednesday ahead of a speech celebrating the opening of a new party office when he suddenly fell ill the night before the event, Bild reported.

The dad of two, 55, opted to stay in his third-floor room at Berlin’s boutique Hotel Neuer-Fritz to recuperate before he was found dead later that night when his pals unsuccessfully tried to contact him.

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into his death.

“There is no initial suspicion of any crime. Nothing can be ruled out at this point,” Michael Petzold, a spokesperson for Berlin’s public prosecutor’s office, told Bild.

“For investigative reasons, the specific circumstances of the discovery cannot yet be disclosed.”

Aiwanger, who had been a Bavarian lawmaker since 2008 and Deputy Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018, was found with no external injuries, however, sources told Bild. 

His cause of death remains unclear but those in Aiwanger’s senior coalition partner, the Christian Social Union, told Bild he had experienced some gastrointestinal problems.

Aiwanger’s death comes just three years after he was embroiled in an antisemitism controversy that threatened to blow up the Free Voters campaign ahead of the 2023 Bavarian state elections.

He came under fire after a report in Süddeutsche Zeitung – one of Bavaria’s largest newspapers – claimed he published a leaflet mocking the Holocaust while he was at school during the 1980s, DW reported.

The pol admitted to having copies of the pamphlet in his backpack and described its contents as “disgusting and inhumane.”

Helmut Aiwanger, Aiwanger’s older brother, appeared to take the hit as he claimed to have produced the sickening literature. 

Aiwanger has also been accused by his former classmates of making antisemitic jokes after visiting a former Nazi concentration camp in 1987.

“On one evening, I was very upset that he made a joke about Jews, which I remember as being very repulsive,” Aiwanger’s classmate told the radio station, Bayerischer Rundfunk, according to DW.

Aiwanger also made the Nazi salute when going into class, another one of his former classmates alleged in August 2023.

Classmates also accused the politician of making quips about malnourished children in Africa.

Aiwanger was fronted over the allegations, appearing to hint he may have been foolish during his time at school.

“It is certainly the case that in adolescence, one thing or another could be interpreted in such and such a way that is in line with the things that 15-year-old me is being accused of,” he told Welt TV, as per DW.

“But in any case, I can say that since I reached adulthood, over the past decades, [I am] not an antisemite, not an extremist – but rather, a humanitarian.”

The scandal threatened to derail Aiwanger’s campaign – but his party secured their best-ever result  in the 2023 Bavarian State Elections – finishing second with 37 seats, up 10 on their 2018 performance. 

Free Voters finished ahead of Germany’s more established parties such as the right-wing Alternative Fur Deutschland, the Social Democrats, the Greens, the liberal Free Democrats.

The result meant that Aiwanger’s party continued in coalition with the Christian Social Union. 

Markus Söder, Bavaria’s State Premier and the leader of the CSU, described Aiwanger’s death as an “absolute 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.”

Karl Lauterbach, a SPD politician, acknowledged Aiwanger’s past – describing him as “controversial and not easy to deal with.”

Aiwanger was unmarried but lived with his 48-year-old girlfriend, Tanja Schweiger. They were in a relationship for around 15 years and shared two sons, Laurenz and Adrian.

On Nov. 1 — which happened to be All Saints’ Day — she chillingly posted on Instagram, “Life ends but love does not.”