Israel Itzkovich, Cantonist Soldier
In 1853, when Israel Itzkovich was seven years old, his family moved to the city of Polotzk in the Vitebsk District. They somehow managed to support themselves. Israel’s mother sent her twelve-year-old son to live somewhere safe from the draft. Israel and his nine-year-old sister remained at home with their mother.
One October morning, three chappers burst into their apartment, tied Israel up and carried him off. His mother’s cries and screams fell on deaf ears. Itzkovich was taken to a house holding several dozen captive children. The chappers kept them there for a couple of weeks. Itzkovich’s mother and relatives visited him often, but were powerless to get him back.
A few weeks later, on October 23, 1853, the children were hauled to the receiving station where they were inducted and handed over to an army commander. They were housed temporarily in military barracks and issued military garments: underwear, overcoats, sheepskin coats, and boots – none the right size – and a cloth knapsack in which to store their belongings.
On November 6, Itzkovich was sent off to the battalion. Six or more boys were placed in each of a long line of carts. The entire town came to bid them farewell. The children and the adults cried and screamed. The crescendo of voices shook the ground.
Even after several miles, Itzkovich and his companions still heard their relatives’ cries. The wagons traveled until evening when the boys arrived at a village and were assigned to quarters in cold houses with dirt floors. The children were frozen, their hands and feet stiff with cold. If the boys cried, they were beaten. Many became ill and died before they arrived at their next destination, St. Petersburg.
From St. Petersburg, Itzkovich and his detachment were forcibly marched to the Siberian city of Archangelsk. The march lasted from November 1853 to June 1854. En route, the children were beaten and harassed and died like flies. The road was littered with their corpses. Finally, they entered the ‘Promised Land,’ Archangelsk. The officers took the boys to a building occupied by other Cantonists.
Life for Itzkovich and his unit was one of extreme hardship, full of torture and suffering. Pressure, supported by beatings, to accept baptism occurred throughout the day. Even after Itzkovich contracted an eye disease, a non-commissioned officer beat him with his fists.
The officer in charge of Itzkovich and his detachment was a converted Jew named Gulevich, who was the godson of the battalion commander, Dyakonov. At the first inspection of the detachment, Dyakonov declared to the battalion that as long as he lived, no one would leave his battalion as a Jew. Gulevich endeavored to fulfill the wish of his godfather.
Every evening at about nine o’clock, when it was time for bed, Gulevich would lie down on his bed, call a few boys over, and order them to kneel. He then would attempt to persuade the boys to convert with quotations from the Bible, implying that the Jews were in error. Finally, he would demand in a threatening tone that the boys accept Christianity or face punishment.
Gulevich allowed those boys who agreed to his importuning to go to sleep. The next day they were given uniforms and an extra piece of bread. The obstinate ones, however, were kept on their knees by his bed all night, and the next day they went to bed without bread and were harassed and whipped on any pretext.
The older Cantonists, between the ages of twelve and fifteen, were tortured for longer durations. They were beaten and whipped so severely that many of them died of their wounds. Under these conditions, most of the boys, understandably, did not resist for long. They finally consented, albeit against their wishes, to conversion.
