# Kholm Governorate (Russian Empire)

Kholm Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kholm (Chełm).
It was created from the eastern parts of Siedlce Governorate and Lublin Governorate in 1912. It was separated from Privislinsky Krai and joined to Kiev General Governorate as "core Russian territory", as a precaution in case the territories of Privislinsky Krai should be taken from the Russian Empire in an upcoming war. Another reason for this administrative change was to facilitate Russification and conversion of the non-Eastern Orthodox Christians to Orthodoxy.
Kholm Governorate was officially excluded from Privislinsky Krai by Tsar's decree of 4 April 1915.
According to Russian statistical sources for 1914, while the area of the governorate was 10,460 square kilometres (4,040 sq mi), it was inhabited by 896,316 inhabitants of whom 404,633 (45.1%) were Roman Catholics, 327,322 (36.5%) Orthodox Christians, 29,123 Protestants and 135,238 Jews. Russian data was questioned by Polish scholars, such as Włodzimierz Wakar, who argued that Poles made up a larger percent of the total population than according to official Russian sources.
However, during the Great Retreat in the summer of 1915, the Russian command gave orders to evacuate the population of the governorate. Due to that policy, about 2/3 of the Ukrainian population was deported to the Russian Empire in June–July 1915. The deported population reached a few hundred thousand people and thus significantly changed the national composition of the region. As of year 1918 the ethnic Polish population amounted already to around 70% of the region's total population.

## Administrative Divisions

The Kholm governorate consisted of 8 Uyezds (note Russian spellings for administrative centres used):
| № | Uyezd | Admin Centre | Area, (Verst) | Population (1897) (People) |
| 1 | Belgoraisky | Belgorai (5 846 ) | 1 500.8 | 96 332 |
| 2 | Belsky | Bela (13 090 ) | 1 311.0 | 76 687 |
| 3 | Vlodavsky | Vlodava (6 673 ) | 1 900.1 | 98 035 |
| 4 | Grubeshovsky | Grubeshov (10 639 ) | 1 063.9 | 101 392 |
| 5 | Zamostsky | Zamost (14 705 ) | 1 569.6 | 119 783 |
| 6 | Konstantinovsky | Yanov (3 861 ) | 1 263.0 | 61 333 |
| 7 | Tomashevsky | Tomashev (6 233 ) | 1 213.4 | 98 783 |
| 8 | Kholmsky | Kholm (18 452 ) | 1 865.9 | 137 585 |

## Demographics

The entire population of the Kholm province, according to official Russian statistics, was 896,316 people of whom 45.1% were Roman Catholics, 36.5% Orthodox Christians, 3.2% Protestants and 15.1% Jews. This means that even according to official data the number of Catholics was larger than the number of the Orthodox. Polish historiography considers this official Russian data as falsified. The Orthodox accounted for more than half of the population only in Grubeshovsky district, as well as in some parts of the former Lubartovsk and Krasnostavsky districts. In parts of Tomashov and Kholm districts, as well as in the former Vlodavsky Uyezd, the number of the Orthodox exceeded the number of Catholics by about 5%. In remaining areas the number of Catholics exceeded the number of the Orthodox. Due to the 1905 Decree of Tolerance (also known as The Edict of Toleration) by Tsar Nicholas II many Orthodox people in what later became the Kholm Governorate started converting to Roman Catholicism, which caused the decline of the percentage of Orthodox population in the area during the following years. The share of Orthodox Christians further declined during the evacuation of the population as part of the Great Retreat.
According to the Russian census of 1897 the share of each religion in eight uyezds which later became the Kholm Governorate was 344,098 Roman Catholics (43.6%), 314,404 Orthodox Christians (39.8%), 107,238 Jews (13.6%), 22,766 Protestants (2.9%) and 1,424 people of other religions (0.2%). According to the Polish census of 1921 the share of each religion in eight counties which used to form the Kholm Governorate before, was 494,819 Roman Catholics (65.7%), 140,549 Orthodox Christians (18.7%), 104,667 Jews (13.9%), 10,057 Protestants (1.3%) and 2,956 people of other religions (0.4%).
The total population of eight districts in 1897 was 789,930 and in 1921 it was 753,048.
Religious composition of the population according to the 1897 Russian census :
| Uyezd | Population 1897 | Roman Catholic | % | Orthodox | % | Jewish | % | Protestant | % | Other religion | % |
| Konstantinovsky | 61333 | 34335 | 56.0% | 18742 | 30.6% | 8185 | 13.3% | 0 | 0.0% | 71 | 0.1% |
| Belsky | 76687 | 30340 | 39.6% | 29081 | 37.9% | 16658 | 21.7% | 384 | 0.5% | 224 | 0.3% |
| Vlodavsky | 98035 | 22352 | 22.8% | 55728 | 56.8% | 15489 | 15.8% | 4391 | 4.5% | 75 | 0.1% |
| Kholmsky | 137585 | 47849 | 34.8% | 54485 | 39.6% | 17486 | 12.7% | 17148 | 12.5% | 617 | 0.4% |
| Grubeshovsky | 101392 | 29666 | 29.3% | 56058 | 55.3% | 14778 | 14.6% | 843 | 0.8% | 47 | 0.0% |
| Zamostsky | 119783 | 80685 | 67.4% | 24224 | 20.2% | 14751 | 12.3% | 0 | 0.0% | 123 | 0.1% |
| Tomashevsky | 98783 | 42944 | 43.5% | 44715 | 45.3% | 10933 | 11.1% | 0 | 0.0% | 191 | 0.2% |
| Belgoraisky | 96332 | 55927 | 58.1% | 31371 | 32.6% | 8958 | 9.3% | 0 | 0.0% | 76 | 0.1% |
| Total in eight districts | 789930 | 344098 | 43.6% | 314404 | 39.8% | 107238 | 13.6% | 22766 | 2.9% | 1424 | 0.2% |
Religious composition of the population according to the 1921 Polish census :
| County | Population 1921 | Roman Catholic | % | Orthodox | % | Jewish | % | Protestant | % | Other religion | % |
| Konstantynów | 65055 | 53667 | 82.5% | 4012 | 6.2% | 7241 | 11.1% | 10 | 0.0% | 125 | 0.2% |
| Biała Podlaska | 59520 | 37239 | 62.6% | 9551 | 16.0% | 11550 | 19.4% | 226 | 0.4% | 954 | 1.6% |
| Włodawa | 76718 | 40881 | 53.3% | 20104 | 26.2% | 13562 | 17.7% | 2017 | 2.6% | 154 | 0.2% |
| Chełm | 121475 | 68770 | 56.6% | 24701 | 20.3% | 19912 | 16.4% | 7476 | 6.2% | 616 | 0.5% |
| Hrubieszów | 103841 | 50735 | 48.9% | 38468 | 37.0% | 13967 | 13.5% | 273 | 0.3% | 398 | 0.4% |
| Zamość | 142614 | 119769 | 84.0% | 5441 | 3.8% | 17225 | 12.1% | 34 | 0.0% | 145 | 0.1% |
| Tomaszów | 92809 | 57869 | 62.4% | 22389 | 24.1% | 12154 | 13.1% | 11 | 0.0% | 386 | 0.4% |
| Biłgoraj | 91016 | 65889 | 72.4% | 15883 | 17.5% | 9056 | 9.9% | 10 | 0.0% | 178 | 0.2% |
| Total in eight districts | 753048 | 494819 | 65.7% | 140549 | 18.7% | 104667 | 13.9% | 10057 | 1.3% | 2956 | 0.4% |
In the 1931 census data Konstantynów county is counted as part of Biała Podlaska county:
Religious composition of the population according to the 1931 Polish census :
| County | Population 1931 | Roman Catholic | % | Orthodox | % | Jewish | % | Protestant | % | Other religion | % |
| Biała Podlaska | 116266 | 82647 | 71.1% | 18192 | 15.6% | 14288 | 12.3% | 333 | 0.3% | 806 | 0.7% |
| Włodawa | 113566 | 57939 | 51.0% | 33382 | 29.4% | 18188 | 16.0% | 3522 | 3.1% | 535 | 0.5% |
| Chełm | 162340 | 88488 | 54.5% | 37530 | 23.1% | 22852 | 14.1% | 10609 | 6.5% | 2861 | 1.8% |
| Hrubieszów | 129957 | 63365 | 48.8% | 49128 | 37.8% | 15785 | 12.1% | 419 | 0.3% | 1260 | 1.0% |
| Zamość | 149548 | 125249 | 83.8% | 6778 | 4.5% | 16738 | 11.2% | 59 | 0.0% | 724 | 0.5% |
| Tomaszów | 121124 | 73021 | 60.3% | 33059 | 27.3% | 14204 | 11.7% | 26 | 0.0% | 814 | 0.7% |
| Biłgoraj | 116951 | 82614 | 70.6% | 20913 | 17.9% | 12938 | 11.1% | 31 | 0.0% | 455 | 0.4% |
| Total in seven districts | 909752 | 573323 | 63.0% | 198982 | 21.9% | 114993 | 12.6% | 14999 | 1.6% | 7455 | 0.8% |