Cantonist
Cantonists (
German:
Kantonist, or a person living in a
canton) were
recruits in
Prussia in
1733-
1813, liable for
draft in one of the cantons. Each canton was resposible for creating its own
regiment.
Cantonists (
Russian language:
Кантонисты) were sons of Russian private soldiers who from
1805 were educated in special "canton schools" (Кантонистские школы) for future military service (the schools were called
garrison schools in the
18th century); after
1827 the term was applied also to
Jewish boys, who were drafted to military service at the age of twelve and placed for their military education in cantonist schools of distant provinces. Like other
conscripts, they were forced to serve in the
Russian army for 25 years or more, according to the law signed by
Tsar Nicholas I of Russia on
August 26 (
September 7 new style),
1827. A disproportionate number of Jewish minors under 18 years of age, and sometimes much younger, were placed in such preparatory military training establishments. Even though boys as young as eight were frequently taken, the 25-year term officially commenced at the age of 18.
The vast majority of Jews entered the
Russian Empire as an unwelcome side effect of the territories acquired as a result of the
Partitions of Poland of the
1790s; their
civil rights were severely restricted (see
Pale of Settlement) and most lacked knowledge of the official
Russian language. Before 1827, Jews were doubly taxed in lieu of being obligated to serve in the army, but the Cantonist law did not alleviate this burden.
The
Cantonist institutions existed before 1827 in order to prepare
Christian boys whose fathers were in the army for prospective service, but the new law redesigned them to affect Jews. One of the goals behind the compulsory military service was to strip Jewish boys of their religious and national identity. An official policy was to encourage their
conversion to the
state religion of
Orthodox Christianity and Jewish boys were frequently forcefully
baptized. As
kosher food was unavailable, the boys were faced with the choice of going against the
halakha or starving. Since the traditional Jewish society of the time was
patriarchal, removing a family backbone was designed to hit both families and communities.
Strict
quotas were imposed on
kahals and the leaders were forced to turn against their own communities. As the wealthy and the
guild members were not obligated or
bribed their way out, the policy deeply sharpened social tensions. The practice of informers and kidnappers (Russian: "ловчики",
lovchiki,
Yiddish:
khappers) proliferated, as many potential conscripts preferred to run away rather than voluntarily submit to the virtual
death sentence to which the long conscription period sometimes amounted. In the case of unfulfilled quotas, younger boys were taken. Their fate was described by
Yiddish and
Russian literature classics.
While being convoyed to his
Siberian exile at
Vyatka,
Alexander Herzen met a unit of emaciated Jewish Cantonists, some 8 years old, who were marching to
Perm and then to
Kazan. Their officer complained that a third had already died ("Беда даи только, треть осталась на дороге" -- "Былое и думы",
My Past and Thoughts, end of Chapter 13).
The policy was abolished in
1855, with the death of Nicholas I. It is estimated that between 30,000 to 70,000 Jewish boys served as the cantonists; most never returned to their homes. After 25-year conscription term, former cantonists were allowed to live outside the Pale of Settlement as
useful Jews.
*
Dazdie tax
*
Jizya tax
*
Useful Jew*
Leibzoll tax
*
Pale of Settlement*
More Judaico*
Devşirme system*
Janissary*
Tallage*
Simon Dubnow,
The Newest History of the Jewish People, 1789-1914 Vol. 2 (Russian ed. ISBN 5-93273-105-2) pp. 141-149, 306-308
*
CANTONISTS, by Herman Rosenthal at
Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906
* Benjamin Nathans,
Beyond the Pale: The Jewish encounter with late imperial Russia (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. 2002). pp.26-38
*
Dancing with the Torah *
Life in the Pale of Settlement. Cantonists *
Фронтовой соловей, by Eduard Flink*
Кантонистские школы*
Кантонисты*
Былое и думы. Часть вторая (Alexander Herzen,
My Past and Thoughts, Part Two)
