Munich: State ceremony for Hubert Aiwanger begins

At the state ceremony in the cathedral there will first be a speech by Söder and State Parliament President Ilse Aigner. FW parliamentary group leader Florian Streibl then speaks. There are then two more obituaries for Aiwanger, one from Hubert Starker, President of the Bavarian Hunting Association, and one from Professor Veronika Grimm.

The Requiem beforehand is performed by the vocal ensemble of the Munich Cathedral Music, the cathedral orchestra and the soprano Katja Stuber under the direction of cathedral music director Lucia Hilz. Excerpts from the Requiem in D minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will be heard. Cathedral cantor Benedikt Celler plays the organ.

After the funeral ceremony, the coffin is led out of the cathedral. There is a farewell ceremony on the cathedral square with the Waakirchen mountain riflemen, hunting horn players and gunners.

The Free Voters organized bus trips to the funeral service from various parts of Bavaria. Some of the approximately 2,000 seats in the Church of Our Lady should be freely accessible. However, there may not be enough space for all mourners.

Aiwanger, who was also federal and state leader of the Free Voters, was found lifeless in a hotel room in Berlin on Wednesday last week. He was 55 years old. The Lower Bavarian leaves behind his partner, Regensburg district administrator Tanja Schweiger (Free Voters), and two sons.

Schweiger spoke publicly for the first time after Aiwanger's death on Tuesday. "Hubert Aiwanger is dead. This news overwhelmed many people on Wednesday evening. Us as a family in a very special way," she wrote on Instagram. “We have now dealt with the initial grief in the close family circle.” Aiwanger should be buried “at home,” Schweiger announced.

The 48-year-old thanked everyone for "the overwhelming sympathy" and "all those who prayed, came together, honored him in St. John's Day celebrations and other church services, and took him into their midst. Likewise to those who reported to us with news of shared encounters."

The Bavarian state parliament honored Aiwanger with a minute's silence on Thursday. State Parliament President Ilse Aigner praised the long-time Free Voters leader as a thoroughbred politician through and through, as the face of Bavaria and his party, as a passionate political fighter: “With Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria is losing, Germany is losing, we are losing a formative figure in politics, a courageous fighter for freedom and democracy.” A photo, a candle and flowers were placed in front of Aiwanger's empty seat on the government bench.

Aigner recalled that it was the first time since the death of former Prime Minister and CSU chairman Franz Josef Strauss 38 years ago that an active member of the state government died in office.

Meanwhile, Aiwanger's successor as a member of parliament, the Straubing restaurateur Stephan Weckmann, took part in a state parliament session for the first time. It is unclear who will follow Aiwanger as Deputy Prime Minister, Economics Minister and FW federal and state chairman. Most recently, the Free Voters said that this should only be decided after the act of mourning and burial.