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Kholm Governorate (Russian Empire)

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Kholm Governorate
Холмская губерния
Governorate of the Russian Empire
1913–1918
Coat of arms of Kholm
Coat of arms

Location in the Russian Empire

CapitalKholm
Area 
• 
10,460 km2 (4,040 sq mi)
Population 
• 
896,316
History 
• Creation of Kholm Governorate
8 September 1913
1916
1918
1918
11 November 1918
Political subdivisionsGovernorates of the Russian Empire
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Siedlce Governorate
Lublin Governorate
Regency Kingdom of Poland
Kholm Governorate
Today part ofPoland

Kholm Governorate[a] 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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3]

Administrative Divisions

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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

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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.[3] 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[4]
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[5]
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[6]
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%

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^

References

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  1. ^ Norman Davies, God's Playground: A History of Poland, Columbia University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-231-12819-3, Print, p.278
  2. ^ W obronie ziemi. p. 46.
  3. ^ a b http://www.hist.msu.ru/Labs/UkrBel/sklarov.htm Archived 8 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  4. ^ "Languages and religions in the districts of the Russian Empire".
  5. ^ "Skorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej opracowany na podstawie wyników Pierwszego Powszechnego Spisu Ludności z dn. 30 września 1921 r. i innych źródeł urzędowych. T. 4 : Województwo Lubelskie".
  6. ^ "Plik:Woj.lubelskie-Polska spis powszechny 1931.pdf – Wikipedia, wolna encyklopedia" (PDF). commons.wikimedia.org (in Polish). 1938. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
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