Lorenz joined Nazi 1938 and accepted the Nazi regime under the university chair. In his application for joining the party, he wrote 1938 to the Nazi party NSDAP: "I can say that all my scientific work is devoted to the concept of national socialism." His publications at that time led to the accusation that the Nazis sympathized with his scientific work in recent years: during the Nazi period, his published works included supporting the Nazi's "racial health" thought.

When accepting the Nobel Prize, he apologized for the publication of 1940, including Nazi's views on science, saying that "many very decent scientists, like me, hope to quickly turn from it to national socialism and realize peace in a short time." Lorenz's idea about the genetic basis of behavior patterns seems likely to be speculated by Nazi authorities, but there is no evidence that his experimental work was inspired by Nazi thoughts.

In the last few years of his life, Lorenz supported the fledgling Austrian Green Party and became Konrad Lorenz Vauxberglen in 1984. The organization was established to prevent the undeveloped forest land of the energy factory building near the Danube from being destroyed, thus surrounding the planned site.