[History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II by S.M. Dubnow]@TWC D-Link book
History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II

CHAPTER XVII
10/21

No means was left unused to evade this atrocious obligation.

The reports of the governors refer to the "immeasurable difficulties in carrying out the conscription among the Jews." Apart from innumerable cases of self-mutilation--to quote the words of one of these reports written in 1850--the disappearance, without exception, of all able-bodied Jews has become so general that in some communities, outside of those unfit for military service because of age or physical defects, not a single person can be found during conscription who might be drafted into the army.

Some flee abroad, whilst others hide in adjacent governments.
Those in hiding were hunted down like wild beasts.

Their life, as a contemporary witness testifies, was worse than that of galley slaves, for the slightest indiscretion brought ruin upon them.

Many resorted to self-mutilation to render themselves unfit for military service.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books