He briefly had to escape to Memel (now Klaipėda) in Eastern Prussia to avoid arrest but returned home soon after.

His views influenced the position of the party on the way the economy should be run after World War II and the welfare-state that should be established.

He was also highly regarded by the German chancellor Konrad Adenauer who unsuccessfully tried to convince him to take up a post in the federal government.

He had to resign from this post on 21 January 1960 for health reasons and died the year after, at the age of 59, in Munich.

As a political research foundation funded from the federal budget, it is closely associated with the CSU and named after Hanns Seidel.