Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-03
KHOLM THE POLISH SEAT
Of RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA
Greek Church Tried From This City
to Convert Poles to That
Religion.

"Kholm. or Chelm, as the Poles spell
it, has been one of the most interesting
of Polish towns under Russian admin
istration, for from this quiet corner of
subject Poland the government pro-
gram for the classification of the Poles
has been directed" says a descriptive
statement issued by the National Geo
graphic Society Just over the Rus
sian border, surrounded by endless
acres OF foxest and agricultural land,
the whole. region in which it lies pos
sessed of but Indifferent means for
communication. and, SO, screened from
the. feverish, suspicious politics of
Warsaw and other Polish centers,
Kholm in peace times was a strategic
point of rare advantages for the propa-
cation of Russian influences.
The Russian ideals, the Russian
tongue, Russian methods and the Rus
sian religion entered Poland by way
of Kholm, and from here painstaking
efforts were made to spread them
among all the peasantry. The Russian
point of view has sought to penetrate
by way of the Lublin- Ivangorod
railway line. and from here. too, it has
made it's way south, even beyond the
Galician borders to the great Polish
city of Lemberg. Thus. Kholm. which
didly, was Russian stronghold in
more senses than one. 1t was the SEN
timental and intellectual heart of the
Russian program in Poland.
Seat of Russian Bishop.
"Kholn is the seat of a Russian
bishop. The national Greek Church,
though it claims but few followers over
the Polish boundary, is here strongly
intrenched. The city supports a num-
Der of Greek churches, and an eccle-
siastical seminary long founded here
offers to the Poles and to Russian mis-
sionaries to the Poles the learning of
the Greek Church. The Russian Church
has based mighty efforts from Kholm
for the conversion of the Poles to the
Church of Most of the Slavs.' Its sue
cess, however, is still hanging in the
balance.
THE city is very ancient 1t was
founded by Daniel, Prince of Galicz, as
business headquarters for rich family
estates. 1t Is today living specimen
of archaeology, with the railway rum
minders of the modern age. The shell
fire of today shaking this out-of-date,
time sleepy city must cause an uncanny
realization among it's citizens of the
strides that the ages have made since
Kholm last came into immediate con-
tact with the outside world
THE city, most of which was built
without a plan, provides a home for
10000 people, and, before the outbreak
of the war, provided an arsenal, quiet
but powerful source of Russizcation
plans and sinews.
OF Military Importance.
"Lublin, the important manufacturing
town of this part of Russian Poland,
lies forty-five miles west-northwest of
Kholm by the Kief- Warsaw railway.
Kholm forms the south termination of
the strategic railroad that runs behind
the last line of Russian defense in
Poland, that north -andsouth line of
the Bug, REINFORCED and continued
north from the Bug by the Kholm-
Brest-Litovsk- Bieostok- Osowie0- rail-
way It's possession, therefore, is of
great military Importance. The coun-
try around Kholm grows an abundance
of grains, and is, also, very rich in it's
production of other agricultural prod
ucts."