Biography
Gerald (Louis Gerd) Liebenau is the son of Kurt Liebenau (b. Berlin) and Helene (Lola) nee Olkenitzky (b. Tallinn, Estonia). Gerald was born on November 30, 1925 and his younger sister Irene (today Zuckerbaum) was born five years later. His father worked in the textile business. Gerald attended public school until 1936, when he and other Jewish children were expelled. In September 1938, Gerald's father heard that the Nazis were searching for him so he fled to England where his business had customers. This allowed him to obtain a business permit. Three month's later the rest of the family joined him in London. They lived in London for approximately one month, as they waited for their visa numbers to be announced. In February 1939, Gerald, then fourteen-years-old, and his family immigrated to the United States. They moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania where Helene had an uncle. His son (her cousin) was a lawyer and he provided affidavits to the Liebenaus to facilitate their immigration. Several years later Gerald and his family moved once again to New London, Connecticut. Gerald's mother spoke English well and taught piano lessons. After finishing high school Gerald joined the U.S. Army. He spent one year in the infantry and one year in the Office of Strategic Services. His OSS unit was the first to arrive in Vienna. After serving in the Army, Gerald went back to school and in 1950 graduated from Yale University. The Soviet Union deported all of Helen's family in Estonia to Siberia so they all survived the war.
