Cantonists (
Russian languageRussian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
:
Кантонисты, the term adapted from
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
for "recruiting district") were sons of Russian conscripts who from 1721 were educated in special "canton schools" (Кантонистские школы) for future military service (the schools were called garrison schools in the 18th century).
Cantonist Schools during the 18th and early 19th centuries
Cantonist schools were established by the 1721 decree of Tsar Peter the Great that stipulated that every regiment was required to maintain a school for 50 boys. Their enrollment was increased in 1732, and the term was set from the age of 7 to 15. The curriculum included grammar and arithmetic, and those with a corresponding aptitude were taught artillery, fortification, music and singing, scrivenery, equine veterinary, or mechanics. Those lacking in any talent were taught carpentry, blacksmithery, shoemaking and other trades useful to the military. The ablest ones were taught for additional 3 years, until the age of 18. All entered military service at the completion of their studies. The decree of 1758 required all male children of the military personnel to be taught in the cantonist schools. In 1798 a military "asylum-orphanage" was established in St. Petersburg, and all regimental schools were renamed after it, the total enrollment reaching 16 400.
The schools were reorganized in 1805 and all children were now referred to as
cantonists. In 1824 all cantonist schools were made answerable to the Director of Military Settlements Count
Aleksey ArakcheyevCount Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev was a Russian general and statesman under the reign of Alexander I.As he grew up, he was Peter Ivanovich Melissino's pupil and rapidly started teaching arithmetic and geometry...
, and in 1826 they were organized into cantonist battalions. During the reign of the
Nicholas I of RussiaNicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres.Nicholas I was born in Gatchina to Emperor Paul I and...
the number of cantonists reached 36,000. Several cantonist battalions became specialized: they prepared auditors, artillerists, engineers, military surgeons, cartographers.
More children were added to the category of cantonists. Eventually children of the discharged soldiers were also included, illegitimate children of soldiers' wives' or widows', and even foundlings.
There were several exemptions:
- Legitimate sons of staff-officers, and all officers awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 4th class.
- A single son of a junior staff-officer, out of a total number of his children, if he had no sons born after his attainment of the officer's rank.
- A single son of a junior officer maimed in battle.
- A single son of a widow of a junior officer or an enlisted man killed in action or deceased during service.
Cantonism and ethnic minorities
After 1827 the term was applied also to
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish and
KaraiteKaraim, from the Hebrew word קראים, meaning "readers", refers in the literal sense generally to practitioners of the Karaite sect of Judaism....
boys , who were drafted to military service at the age of twelve and placed for their six-year military education in cantonist schools. Like all other
conscriptConscription is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by an established authority. It is most often used in the specific sense of requiring citizens to serve in the armed forces...
s, they were required to serve in the Russian army for 25 years after the completion of their studies. In 1834 the term was reduced to 20 years plus 5 years in reserve and in 1855 to 12 years plus 3 years of reserve. According to the "Statute on Conscription Duty" signed by
TsarTsar or czar , occasionally spelled csar or Tzar in English, is a Slavic term with Bulgarian origins used to designate certain monarchs...
Nicholas I of RussiaNicholas I , , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometres.Nicholas I was born in Gatchina to Emperor Paul I and...
on August 26 (September 7 new style) 1827 Jews were made liable to personal military service and were subject to the same conscription quota as all other tax-paying estates ("sosloviya") in the Russian Empire. The total number of conscrips was uniform for all populations (four conscripts per each thousand subjects), however the actual recruitment was implemented by the local
kahalKahal is a moshav in the Galilee near Highway 85 in northern Israel. The moshav is a combined agricultural community. It lies at the border of the Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee, north of Lake Kinneret. It belongs to the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council....
s and so a disproportionate number of Jewish conscripts were underage .
The main goal behind the compulsory military service was the integration of Jews and other non-Russian minorities into Russian society (effectively to the detriment of their
religious and national identitiesJewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under the broader definition, the Jewish identity does not depend on whether or not a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, or legal, or...
). Ukrainian and Polish cantonists were also pressured to
assimilateCultural assimilation is a political response to the demographic fact of multi-ethnicity which encourages absorption of the minority into the dominant culture...
, as part of general policy of
RussificationRussification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute by non-Russian communities...
. However, in the case of Jews, unlike similar measures implemented earlier by the Austro-Hungarian Emperor
Joseph IIJoseph II may refer to:*Joseph II *Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor *Patriarch Joseph II of Constantinople*Pope Joseph II of Alexandria...
the Russian policy failed to provide greater civil and economic rights.
The vast majority of Jews entered the
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
with the territories acquired as the result of the last Partitions of Poland of the 1790s; their
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
were severely restricted (see
Pale of SettlementThe Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, along its western border, in which permanent residence of Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish residence was generally prohibited...
). Most lacked knowledge of the official
Russian languageRussian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
. Before 1827, Jews were doubly taxed in lieu of being obligated to serve in the army, and their inclusion was supposed to alleviate this burden. However the number of recruits reduced the number of young men that could go into the workforce, and this in combination with political restrictions led to widespread destitution.
Russia was divided into northern, southern, eastern, and western “conscription zones” and the levy was announced annually for only one of them. The Pale of Jewish settlement was outside conscription in the fallow years, so the conscription in general and of cantonists in particular occurred once every four years. The first 1827 draft involved some 1,800 Jewish conscripts, by the Kahal's decision half of them were children. In 1843 the conscription system was extended to the Kingdom of Poland that was previously exempt from it.
There were some significant differences in treatment of Jews and non-Jews: Jews were required to provide conscripts between the ages of 12 and 25, but all others between 18 and 35. This system created disproportionate number of Jewish cantonists, and betrayed the utilitarian agenda of the statute: to draft those more likely to be susceptible to external influence, and thus to assimilation.
Strains within the Jewish community
Strict
quotaQuota may refer to:A level business* Quota samplingAffirmative action* Racial quota* Reservation in India* Quotas in PakistanComputing* Disk quota* Bandwidth cap, the quota for upload or download of dataElectoral systems...
s were imposed on
kahalA kehilla or kehillah is a Jewish community. In pre-World War II Europe, all towns or cities with a Jewish population had one communal organisation, or occasionally more...
s and the leaders were given the unpleasant task of implementation of conscription in their own communities. As the merchant-
guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
members, agricultural colonists, factory mechanics, clergy, and all Jews with secondary education were exempt and the wealthy bribed their way out of having their children conscripted, the policy deeply sharpened internal Jewish social tensions. Seeking to protect the economic, social, and religious integrity of Jewish society, the kahals did their best to include “non-useful Jews” in the draft lists so that the heads of tax-paying middle-class families were predominantly exempt from conscription, whereas single Jews, as well as "heretics" (enlightenment-minded individuals), paupers, outcasts, and orphaned children were drafted. They used their power to suppress protests and intimidate potential informers who sought to expose the arbitrariness of the kahal to the Russian government. In some cases, communal elders had the most threatening informers murdered (such as the Ushitsa case, 1836)
The zoning rule was suspended during the
Crimean warThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, when conscription became annual. During this period the
kahalKahal is a moshav in the Galilee near Highway 85 in northern Israel. The moshav is a combined agricultural community. It lies at the border of the Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee, north of Lake Kinneret. It belongs to the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council....
leaders would employ informers and kidnappers (Russian: "ловчики",
lovchiki,
YiddishYiddish is a non-territorial High German language of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world...
:
khapperKhapper is a 19th century colloquialism that comes from the Yiddish word for catcher. The khappers kidnapped Jewish boys to fill out a quota for of Jews required to enter the cantonist schools, in preparation for service in the Russian Army.Khappers were employed by the Kahals to fulfill the...
s), as many potential conscripts preferred to run away rather than voluntarily submit. In the case of unfulfilled quotas, younger boys of eight and even younger were frequently taken.
Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson wrote in 1949 that his great grandfather Rabbi
Menachem Mendel SchneersohnMenachem Mendel Schneersohn also known as the Tzemach Tzedek was an Orthodox rabbi and the third Rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement.-Biography:...
organized a committee with three divisions: one to assist communities in lowering their quotas of conscripts; one, called
Chevre T'chiyas Hameisim ("Resurrection Society"), to ransom conscripted children; and one to send men to the assembly points for Jewish contingents, to comfort the children and encourage them to remain loyal to Judaism. This work entailed heavy expenses and the danger of charges of
seditionSedition is a term of law which refers to overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority...
.
Yohanan Petrovsky-ShternYohanan Petrovsky-Shtern is a historian, philologist and essayist, noted in particular for his studies of the institution of Cantonism, his critique of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's controversial two volume-work about Jews in Russia, "Two Hundred Years Together", as well as translations of Jorge Luis...
wrote in 2003 that no other source corroborates the existence of such an organisation, and that the Schneerson book is not trustworthy as a source
Training and pressures to convert
All cantonists were institutionally underfed, and encouraged to steal food from the local population, in emulation of the Spartan character building. On one occasion in 1856 a Jewish cantonist Khodulevich managed to steal the Tsar's watch during military games at
UmanUman is a city located in the Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia...
. Not only was he not punished, but he was given a reward of 25 roubles for his prowess.
The boys in Cantonist schools were given extensive training in Russian grammar (and sometimes literature), and mathematics, in particular geometry necessary in naval and artillery service. Those who showed aptitude for music were trained in singing and instrumental music, as the Imperial Army had a large demand for military wind bands and choirs. Some cavalry regiments maintained equestrian bands of
torbanThe torban is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque Lute with those of the psaltery. It was invented ca...
players, and cantonist schools supplied these as well. Some cantonist schools also prepared firearms mechanics, veterinarians for cavalry, and administrators ("auditors").
The official policy was to encourage their
conversionReligious conversion is the adoption of new religious beliefs that differ from the convert's previous beliefs. It involves a new religious identity, or a change from one religious identity to another. Conversion requires internalization of the new belief system...
to the
state religionA state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. Practically, a state without a state religion is called a secular state. The term state church is associated with Christianity, and is sometimes used to denote a specific national branch of Christianity...
of
Orthodox ChristianityThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
and Jewish boys were coerced to
baptismIn Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
. As kosher food was unavailable, they were faced with the choice of either abandoning
Jewish dietary lawsKashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit"...
or
starvationStarvation is a severe reduction in vitamin, nutrient, and energy intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage, and eventually death...
. Polish
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
boys were subject to similar pressure to convert and assimilate as the Russian Empire was hostile to Catholicism and Polish nationalism. Initially conversions were few, but after the escalation of missionary activities in the cantonist schools in 1844 about 1/3 of all Jewish cantonists would have undergone conversion.
In the army
For all cantonists, their 25-year term of service began after they reached the age of 18 and were distributed into the army. The distribution patterns of the 18-year-old cantonists show that Jews were not discriminated against: they demonstrated similar average literacy, physical ability, and training accomplishments and were sent in the same army and navy regiments as Christian graduating cantonists. A comparison between baptized and unbaptized Jewish cantonists indicates relatively insignificant advantages that the former enjoyed over the latter.
Discriminatory regulations however ensured that unconverted Jews were held back in their army promotions. According to Benjamin Nathans,
"... the formal incorporation of Jews into Nicolas I's army was quickly compromised by laws distinguishing Jewish from non-Jewish soldiers. Less than two years after the 1827 decree on conscription, Jews were barred from certain elite units, and beginning in 1832 they were subject to separate, more stringent criteria for promotion, which required that they "distinguish themselves in combat with the enemy."
Jews who refused to convert were barred from ascending above the rank of "унтер-офицер" i.e.
NCONCO may refer to:*NCO Group, an international corporation that provides customer service contracting*Net Capital Outflow, an economic metric measuring the amount of money from a country holding assets elsewhere...
. There were only eight exceptions that were recorded during the 19th century. These restrictions were not lifted until the
February RevolutionThe February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It occurred March 8–12 and its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the collapse of Imperial Russia and the end of the Romanov dynasty. The non-Communist Russian Provisional Government under...
in 1917.
Some Baptized cantonists eventually reached high ranks in the Imperial Army and Navy, among them were generals Grulev, Arnoldi, Zeil, Khanukov; admirals Kaufman, Sapsay, Kefali.
Literary references
The cantonists' fate was sometimes described by
YiddishYiddish literature encompasses all belles lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of the Yiddish language, with its roots in central Europe and its centuries of locus in Eastern Europe, is evident in the literature produced in...
and
Russian literatureThis article is about literature from Russia. For the song by Maxïmo Park, see Our Earthly Pleasures. Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet...
classics.
Alexander HerzenAleksandr Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism", and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism...
in his
My Past and Thoughts described his somber encounter with Jewish cantonists. While being convoyed to his exile in 1835 at
VyatkaVyatka may refer to:*Vyatka River, a river in Russia*Vyatka, former name of the city of Kirov, Kirov Oblast, Russia*Vyatka Region, an informal name of Kirov Oblast of Russia*Vyatka Motor Scooter, a Russian copy of Italy's Vespa Motor Scooter...
, Herzen met a unit of emaciated Jewish cantonists, some 8 years old, who were marched to
KazanKazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, and one of Russia's largest cities. It is a major industrial, commercial and cultural center, and remains the most important center of Tatar culture. Since April 2009 Kazan has the legal right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of...
. Their (sympathetic) officer complained that a third had already died.
Nikolai LeskovNikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian journalist, novelist and short story writer, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitskiy. By many Russians he is considered "the most Russian of all Russian writers"....
described underage Jewish cantonists in his 1863 story
The Musk-Ox (Ovtsebyk).
Abolition and results of cantonist policy
The Cantonist policy was abolished by Tsar
Alexander IIAlexander II Nikolaevich , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor, or Czar, of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
's decree on the 26th of August 1856, in the aftermath of the Russian defeat in the
Crimean warThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, which made evident the dire necessity for the modernisation of the Russian military forces. All unconverted cantonists and recruits under the age of 20 were returned to their families. The underage converted cantonists were given to their godparents. However the implementation of the abolition took nearly 3 years.
It is estimated that between 30,000 to 70,000 Jewish boys served as cantonists, their numbers were disproportionately high in relation to the total number of cantonists. Jewish boys comprised about 20% of cantonists at the schools in
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia, a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltics, and an important seaport, situated on the mouth of the Daugava...
and
VitebskVitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia and Latvia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
, and as much as 50% at
KazanKazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, and one of Russia's largest cities. It is a major industrial, commercial and cultural center, and remains the most important center of Tatar culture. Since April 2009 Kazan has the legal right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of...
and
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
schools. A general estimate for the years 1840–1850 seems to have been about 15%. In general Jews comprised a disproportionate number of recruits (ten for every thousand of the male population, the number was tripled during the
Crimean WarThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
(1853-1856).
After the 25-year conscription term, former cantonists were allowed to live and own land anywhere outside the
Pale of SettlementThe Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, along its western border, in which permanent residence of Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish residence was generally prohibited...
. The earliest
Jewish communities in FinlandFinnish Jews are Jews who are citizens of Finland. The country is home to approximately 1,300 Jews. The history of the Jews in Finland began in the 18th century...
were Jewish cantonists who had completed their service. The rate of conversion was generally high, as was eventual intermarriage. Most never returned to their homes.
See also
- Dazdie
Dazdie was the tax paid by Roma state serfs in Bessarabia to the Russian Empire after the region was incorporated in 1812.Roma state serfs were organized in 3 categories:* First class: owing annual taxes of 40 lei;...
tax
- Jizya
Under Islamic law, jizya or jizyah is a per capita tax levied on a section of an Islamic state's non-Muslim citizens, who meet certain criteria...
tax
- Useful Jew
The term useful Jew was used in various historical contexts, typically describing a Jewish person useful in implementing an official authorities' policy, sometimes by oppressing other Jews....
- Leibzoll
The Leibzoll was a special toll which Jews had to pay in most of the European states in the Middle Ages and up to the beginning of the nineteenth century.- Rate of the toll :...
tax
- Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia, along its western border, in which permanent residence of Jews was allowed, and beyond which Jewish residence was generally prohibited...
- More Judaico
- Devşirme system
- Janissary
The Janissaries comprised infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
- Tallage
Tallage or talliage may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a landuse or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon cities, boroughs, and royal domains...
Statistics
Jewish cantonist recruits, 1843–1854
- 1843-1,490
- 1844-1,428
- 1845-1,476
- 1846-1,332
- 1847-1,527
- 1848-2,265
- 1849-2,612
- 1850-2,445
- 1851-3,674
- 1852-3,351
- 1853-3,904
- 1854-3,611
External links