Raithel recovered from his wounds and had a career in agriculture after the war, working in South Africa for many years. He returned to Bavaria when he retired and earned a doctorate of history from the University of Munich. He continued with mountaineering and regularly climbed in the Alps into his seventies. He maintained contact with his former comrades from the 6th SS Division Nord and attended many reunions. On 12 September 1990 at the age of 82, he was returning home from the Semmering Pass in eastern Austria when he was killed in a traffic accident.