Herzel Yankel Tsam

Herzel Yankel Tsam in the uniform of a capitan of the RIA

Herzel Yankel Tsam (Russian: Герцель Янкелевич Цам; 1835–1915) was a Jewish cantonist in the Russian Empire. Tsam appears to have been the only Jewish officer in the Tsarist army in the 19th century who rose beyond the rank of a captain.^[1]

Drafted as a 17-year-old Cantonist, Tsam served in Tomsk, Siberia. Tsam became an officer in 1873 (his fellow officers attested to his qualities in the promotion petitions) and, after forty-one years of service, he was retired with a rank and pension of colonel (полковник). The promotion was granted on the day of his retirement, so he would have the pension, but wouldn't be able to serve as a colonel. An able commander and administrator, he turned one of the worst companies of his regiment into one of the best. In spite of pressures, he never converted to the state religion of Russian Orthodox Christianity.

After retirement, Tsam took an active part in the Jewish community of Tomsk.

See also

• History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union

References

1. Zvi Y. Gitelman (2001): A Century of Ambivalence: the Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33811-5. p.5

Further reading

• «История возникновения в Томске военно-молитвенной солдатской школы» (Томск, 1909).