Podolian Governorate

The Podolia Governorate or Government of Podolia, set up after the Second Partition of Poland, comprised a governorate (guberniya) of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1917 to 1921, and of the Ukrainian SSR from 1921 to 1925.

Podolia Governorate Подільська губернія Подольская губерния (Podolskaya guberniya)
Governorate of the Russian Empire, Ukraine
←   ← 1793–1925
Coat of arms
Gubernia of Podolia, around 1900
Capital		Kamenets-Podolskiy since 1914 Vinnytsia
History
•	Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth	1793
•	Abolished	1 August 1925
Area		42.000 km2 (16 sq mi)
Political subdivisions		Governorates of the Russian Empire

Contents

History

A market scene in Podolia, c. 1864

The Government of Podolia was established right after the Second Partition of Poland in place of the former Podole and Bracław Voivodeships in 1793.

Location

The Podolian Governorate occupied the southwestern frontier of the former Russian empire, bordering Austria-Hungary, and had an area of about 42,000 km². The administrative centre was Kamenets-Podolskiy until 1914 when it moved to Vinnytsia.

Podolia Governorate was one of the three governorates of the Southwestern Krai administration. In 1917 it was recognized by the Russian Provisional Government to be governed by the General Secretariat of Ukraine as the representative of the Russian Provisional Government in the region.

Administrative division

Uyezd subdivision

Until 1918 the governorate consisted of 12 uyezds (counties):

1. Balta uyezd
2. Bratslav uyezd
3. Vinnitsia uyezd
4. Gaysin uyezd
5. Kamenets uyezd
6. Letichev uyezd
7. Litin uyezd
8. Mogilev uyezd
9. Olgopol uyezd
10. Proskurov uyezd
11. Ushytsa uyezd
12. Yampol uyezd

Podolian korchma

Okruha subdivision

On 12 April 1923 all uyezds (counties) were transformed into okruhas (counties), while volosts (districts) – into raions (districts). Okruhas served as a subdivision of government until it was abolished on 1 August 1925. Together with the government of Podilia, the Haisyn okruha was dissolved as well. Some territory of Tulchyn okruha were included into the newly formed Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

• Vinnytsia
• Haisyn
• Kamianets
• Mohyliv
• Proskuriv
• Tulchyn

Principal cities

Russian Census of 1897:

Kamenets/Podolsky

• Kamenets/Podolsky – 35 934 (Jewish – 16 112, Ukrainian – 9 755, Russian – 7 420)
• Vinnitsa – 30 563 (Jewish – 11 456, Ukrainian – 10 862, Russian – 5 206)
• Balta – 23 363 (Jewish – 13 164, Russian – 5 385, Ukrainian – 4 124)
• Proskurov – 22 855 (Jewish – 11 369, Ukrainian – 4 425, Russian – 3 483)
• Mogilev/Dnestr – 22 315 (Jewish – 12 188, Ukrainian – 6 512, Russian – 2 668)
• Zhmerinka – 12 908
• Khmelnik – 11 657 (Jewish – 5 979, Ukrainian – 5 375, Polish – 150)

Smaller cities

• Bar – 9 982 (Jewish – 5 764, Ukrainian – 3 332, Russian – 485)
• Litin – 9 420 (Jewish – 3 828, Ukrainian – 3 047, Russian – 2 126)
• Gaysin – 9 374 (Jewish – 4 322, Ukrainian – 3 946, Russian – 884)
• Olgopol – 8 134 (Ukrainian – 4 837, Jewish – 2 465, Russian – 625)
• Bratslav – 7 863 (Jewish – 3 275, Ukrainian – 2 608, Russian – 1 782)
• Letichev – 7 248 (Jewish – 4 105, Ukrainian – 1 719, Polish – 741)
• Yampol – 6 605 (Ukrainian – 3 282, Jewish – 2 819, Russian – 275)
• Novaya Ushytsa – 6 371 (Jewish – 2 214, Russian – 2 120, Ukrainian – 1 836)
• Staraya Ushytsa – 4 176 (Ukrainian – 2 488, Jewish – 1 584, Polish – 57)
• Salnitsa – 3 699 (Ukrainian – 2 758, Jewish – 899, Polish – 19)
• Verbovets – 2 311 (Ukrainian – 1 282, Jewish – 661, Polish – 326)

Language

Imperial census of 1897.

The Imperial census of 1897 produced the following statistics. Bold type marks languages spoken by more people than the state language. In 1897 3,018,299 people lived in the governorate of Podolia.

Language	Number	percentage (%)	males	females
Ukrainian	2,442,819	80.93
Yiddish	369,306	12.24
Russian	98 984	3.28
Polish	69 156	2.29
Romanian	26 764	0.89
German	4 069	0.13
Tatar	2 296	0.08
Bashkir	1 113	0.04
Other	3 706	0.12
Persons who did not identify their native language	73	<0.01

The cities had 221,870 inhabitants, comprising about 7.35% of the total population. About 46.06% of the urban population consisted of Jews, 32.54% of Ukrainians, 15.03% of Russians, and 4.90% of Poles.

Religion

Podolians, c. 1878

The Imperial census of 1897 reported:

Religion	Number	percentage (%)	males	females
Eastern Orthodox	2,358,497	78.14
Judaism	370,612	12.28
Roman Catholics	262,738	8.70
Old Believers	18 849	0.62
Other	7 603	0.25

The Baal Shem Tov's shul in Medzhybizh, Ukraine (c. 1915). The shul no longer exists.

Religious structures

• Churches
  • Eastern Orthodox 1645
  • Roman Catholic (kosciol) 202
  • Lutheran 4
• Monasteries
  • Eastern Orthodox 7 (male), 4 (female)
• Synagogues 89
  • other Shul(s) 438
• Mosque(s) 1

See also

• Podolia