Funeral Details

Hans Isaac Bensinger of Louisville, Kentucky, died peacefully and surrounded by family on January 7, 2025, at the age of 96. He is predeceased by his loving wife of 41 years, Chava Poznanski Bensinger; parents Salomon and Eugenia Bensinger; sister and brother-in-law Idel Bensinger Simon and Andras Simon; and niece and nephew Barbara Simon and Johnny Simon. He is survived by his devoted and loving daughter Karin (Daniel Appelbaum) and adoring grandchildren Nathan, Noa, Tess, and Mabel Appelbaum; loving niece Irene Simon Friedmann; and many wonderful cousins in Louisville and around the world.
A native of Pforzheim, Germany, Hans was 10 years old when he witnessed and survived the tragic events of Kristallnacht (the November 1938 pogroms that the Nazis unleashed against Germany’s Jewish population and which many historians consider the beginning of the Holocaust). This began a chain of events resulting in his father’s imprisonment in the Dachau concentration camp and his family’s eventual escape and resettlement in La Paz, Bolivia.
As a young, penniless refugee in Bolivia, Hans worked several jobs to support his family, but always prioritized his education by attending night school, a tradition he continued in Louisville, KY to where—with the support of his Louisville-based uncle Fritz Bensinger—he eventually moved, receiving his BA in Accounting and Economics and MBA from the University of Louisville evening programs. His financial acumen and his fluency in German, Spanish, and English provided him with many employment opportunities, including serving as a US Army auditor in Germany and as a finance executive for the Louisville, Managua, Guatemala City, and Buenos Aires subsidiaries of the London-based British American Tobacco Company.
Despite working around the world for many years, Hans felt most at home in Louisville, where he permanently relocated to with his family in the 1980’s and established a real estate business. Hans and Chava enjoyed Louisville’s thriving art scene, and were active long-time subscribers to the Louisville Orchestra, Broadway in Louisville, and Louisville Ballet. They were also proud 40 year-plus members of the Congregation Adath Jeshurun and the Trager Louisville Jewish Community Center.
Hans’s experiences as a Holocaust survivor, which led to the death and world-wide dispersal of his large extended family from their German homeland, made him acutely aware of the importance of preserving family connections, and he spent his adult life maintaining those relationships with relatives in Europe, Latin America, Israel, and the US, long before the internet and social media made this type of communication routine.
Hans was also passionate about history and world affairs, routinely staying up late into the night reading the NYT, WSJ and various magazines from cover-to-cover and watching cable news. He also relished following and educating himself on the most important inventions and trends that arose in his almost 100-year old life. This wealth of knowledge coupled with his economic know-how and prodigious memory led to a life-long interest in studying and investing in world markets, something he wryly referred to as “educated gambling”.
Hans will be remembered as a consummate gentleman and elegant dresser, a man who felt most comfortable when he was wearing a starched button-down shirt, front pocket handkerchief and sports jacket, accompanied by a heavy 1950’s style briefcase. But despite his conservative outward appearance, Hans was an easy-going and down-to-earth person, and a man who recognized a person’s natural talents and who encouraged and helped people to advance themselves professionally and personally.
Despite his many worldly interests, Hans’s greatest joy in life was spending time with his immediate family. His love and generosity for them knew no limits, and he was so incredibly proud of all of their accomplishments and the upstanding people he helped them to become. A brilliant, generous, funny, sweet, and kind man, Hans always had a ready smile on his face and an uncanny ability to connect with people of all ages and backgrounds. A wonderful listener, he always made anyone he talked to feel important and heard. In short, everyone who knew him, loved him. His legacy lives on with his family, friends, and everyone who cherished and loved him.
Funeral services will be held on Sunday, January 12, at 11:00 a.m. at Herman Meyer & Son, Inc., 1338 Ellison Avenue, followed by the burial in Adath Jeshurun Cemetery. Visitors are welcome beginning at 10:00 a.m. Shiva will be held at Congregation Adath Jeshurun after the burial. The service will be live-streamed at this link: www.facebook.com/share/1AAWEwmpmj/
Contributions in Memory of Hans can be made to Congregation Adath Jeshurun, the Louisville Orchestra, HIAS or the U.S. Holocaust Museum.