Kholm Governorate or Chełm Governorate was an administrative unit of the Russian Empire. Its capital was in Chełm. It was created from eastern parts of Siedlce Governorate and Lublin Governorate in 1912. It was separated from the Privislinsky Krai and joined to Kiev General Governorate as "core Russian territory", as a precaution in case Privislinsky Krai territories 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, 30 % Poles, 16 % Jews. However, during the retreat of the Russian Armyin the summer of 1915, the Russian command gave orders to evacuate the "Russian population" of Kholm region. Due to that policy, about 2/3 of the Ukrainian population was deported to the Russian Empire in June–July 1915. The number of deported population was reaching some 300,000 people and thus significantly changing the national composition in the region. Population In 1909 the population of the lands that were included in the Kholm province in 1912 was 703,000 people.
Nationality
Percent
Ukrainians
52.6%
Poles
24.4%
Jews
15.3%
Germans
4%
Russians
3.7%
The entire population of the Kholm province, according to official statistics, was about 760 thousand people, of which Catholics were 311 thousand, Orthodox - 305 thousand, Jews - 115 thousand, Protestants - 28 thousand. 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 :
