14 Facts About Hanns Seidel

Hanns Seidel was a member, and from 1955 to 1961 chairman, of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria.

Hanns Seidel was originally baptized under the name Franz Wendelin but was called simply Hanns.

Hanns Seidel's father died when he was seven and the family had to live in relative poverty from then on.

Hanns Seidel studied law in Jena, Freiburg and Wurzburg, where he graduated in 1929.

Hanns Seidel worked as a lawyer in Aschaffenburg after this and married Ilse Tenter, with whom he had two sons.

Hanns Seidel briefly had to escape to Memel in Eastern Prussia to avoid arrest but returned home soon after.

Hanns Seidel was elected to the Landtag of Bavaria in 1946.

Hanns Seidel's 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.

Hanns Seidel eventually became Minister for Economy in 1947 and held this post until his party's election defeat in 1954.

Hanns Seidel was an important force in the reconstruction efforts in post-war Bavaria.

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

Hanns Seidel immediately went to modernize the party and its politics.

Hanns Seidel 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.

The Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung abbreviated HSS and internationally known as the Hanns Seidel Foundation, formed in 1967.