Arsène was born in a small Alsatian village in 1820 and early on dreamed of going to Algeria. At the age of 23, he applied for a passport for this purpose. It was only in 1873, when the region became Prussian, that the Alsatians were forced by the invaders to choose between Prussian or French nationality. In the latter case, they had to abandon all their belongings and leave the new Reichsland. In his application, the ancestor of the founder wrote that he "would not leave his children to Prussia" and chose to emigrate to Algeria, which was then French. His request was accepted, and he left with his wife and...