 His prize was six months abroad during 1928, as a pupil at the Tabor Academy, a prestigious private school in Massachusetts.Renewed economic austerity following the Wall Street Crash triggered a period of accelerating political polarisation in Germany, and Gerstner chose the extreme left, in 1931 joining the "German Youth of 1 November 1929" scouting group, which tended to take its lead from the Communist Party.He remained a member till 1932.