The abducted children (as young as eight) were usually
raised in barracks ('Cantonments') under brutal conditions designed
to break their Jewishness. Speaking Yiddish, or any sign of
Jewishness or religious practice, was punished by starvation,
beatings, and if that failed outright tortures, resulting in many
deaths, as well as suicides. At age 18, the lads began a 25 year
term in the army. Reversion to Judaism at any time thereafter was a
crime. At its height, in 1854, official records show 7,515
Cantonists conscripted into the Russian army. The Cantonist laws
were ended in 1856 by Tsar Alexander II, almost as soon as he came
to power.
Alexander II created a general draft in 1874, affecting all
Russians. One message of the book is clear; whatever worries Jewish
parents may have regarding their drafted child's ability to maintain
their religion, this modern draft was vastly preferable to the
Cantonist system, and might even be welcomed for its fairness.
In retrospect, Steinberg was really using the Cantonist topic as a
backdrop for a cultural study.
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