Hans was born on 20 April 1921 in Nordheim, Germany to Alice and Ivan, and when he was sixteen the family immigrated to Israel.

At the outbreak of WW2 he enlisted into the British Army and was posted to the Transport Company. He participated in battles in the Western Desert and was wounded twice.

On 29 April 1943, he was onboard the ship S S Erinpura which sailed from the port of Alexandria towards the island of Malta as part of a maritime convoy of 27 ships carrying equipment and supplies for the British Army and 11 warships. Two days after the convoy’s departure, on 1 May 1943, the convoy was attacked and bombed by 12 German bombers thirty miles north of Benghazi. The Erinpura was bombed directly leading it to sink within four minutes. Of the 1,215 men on board the ship, two junior engineers, 54 Indian seamen, three gunners, 600 Basuto Pioneer Troops from South Africa, and 140 Palestinian Jewish soldiers serving in the 462 transport company of the British Army were lost.