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.

According to Russian statistical sources for 1914, while the area of the governorate was 10,460 km2, it was inhabited by approximately 912,095 inhabitants of whom about 50% were Little Russians (the name used for Ukrainians), 30% Poles, and 16% Jews. 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 some 300,000 people and thus significantly changed the national composition of the region.

Demographics
In 1909, the population of the lands included in the Kholm province in 1912 was 703,000 people.

The entire population of the Kholm province, according to official statistics, was about 760 thousand people: 311 thousand Catholics, 305 thousand Orthodox, 115 thousand Jews, and 28 thousand Protestants. Moreover, the Orthodox accounted for more than half of the population in Grubeshovsky, as well as some parts of the former Lubartovsk and Krasnostavsky districts. In parts of Tomashovo and Kholm districts, as well as in the former Wlodawa Uyezd, the number of Orthodox Christians exceeded the number of Catholics by about 5%. On January 1, 1914, in the Kholm province, out of a total population of 912,095 people, Ukrainians comprised 446,839, that is 50.1%, Poles - 30.5%, Jews - 15.8%.

The national composition of the territories of the districts, which were included in the Kholm province in 1912 according to the data of 1897:

Administrative Divisions
The Kholm governorate consisted of 8 Uyezds (see table below, note Russian spellings for administrative centres used).