Kholm Governorate (Russian Empire)

Kholm Governorate Холмская Губерния
Governorate of Russian Empire
←   ← 1913–1915 →
Coat of arms
Capital		Chełm
History
•	Creation of Kholm Governorate	8 September 1913
•	Creation of Lublin Voivodeship	1915
Area		10,460 km2(4,039 sq mi)
Population
•		912,000
	Density	87.2 /km2  (225.8 /sq mi)
Political subdivisions		Governorates of the Russian Empire
Today part of		Poland

Coat of arms

Kholm Governorate or Chełm Governorate (Russian: Холмская Губерния, Kholmskaya Guberniya; Ukrainian: Холмська губернія, Polish: gubernia chełmska) was an administrative unit (governorate) of the Russian Empire. Its capital was in Chełm (Russian and Ukrainian: Холм Kholm).

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 in 1914, while the area of the governorate was 10 460 km2, it was inhabited by approximately 912,095 inhabitants of whom about 50.1% were Little Russians (a demonym used for Ukrainians in Tsarist Russia) (446,839), 30.5% Poles, 15.8% Jews. However, during the retreat of the Russian Army in 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.

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