Cantonist

Cantonists (Russian language: Кантонисты) were Jewish conscripts 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, 1827. Disproportionate number of Jewish minors under 18 years of age, and sometimes much younger, were placed in preparatory military training establishments. Even though the minors as young as eight were frequently taken, the 25-year term officially commenced at the age of 18.

The vast majority of Jews came along to 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). Most of them were brought up in traditional patriarchal culture and were even more powerless because of their lack of knowledge of the official Russian language. Before the reign of Nicholas I, Jews were doubly taxed instead of being obligated to serve in the army.

One of the reasons behind the compulsory military service was to strip many Jewish children of their religious and national awareness and convert them to the state religion of Orthodox Christianity, as Cantonists were frequently baptized.

Strict quotas were imposed on kahals and the leaders were forced to turn against their own communities. The policy deeply sharpened internal class and social tensions and encouraged informers and kidnappers (derogatively dubbed "ловчики", lovchiki), as the potential conscripts preferred to run away rather than voluntarily submit to virtual death sentence to which the long conscription period usually amounted. In the case of unfulfilled quotas, younger boys were taken. Their fate of was described by Yiddish and Russian literature classics, such as Sholom Aleichem, Alexander Herzen, etc.

The policy was abolished in 1855.