The Cantonists’ Descendants

Abstract This chapter examines the history of Ashkenazi Jewish communities that were consolidated in Central Asia from the time of the Russian conquest in the 1870s. The Cantonists, Jews who were enlisted as boys to serve in the Russian army, represented the core of these communities. They were separated from their families but were permitted to reside in the cities beyond the Pale of Settlement at the end of their military service. A second wave of Ashkenazi Jews arrived in Central Asia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, representing a broad spectrum of political parties and religious movements. The third and most significant wave of Ashkenazi Jews arrived during and immediately after the Second World War. Since the mid-1960s, the number of Jews in the region has constantly decreased—some returned to their former places of residence, while others left for Israel, the United States, Canada, and Europe.