From the Chełm Governorate to the Second Polish Republic

From 1815 the region belonged to the Kingdom of Poland under Russian rule, and display boards tell of the January Uprising in the Chełm land. A key theme is the persecution of Uniates forced to convert to Orthodoxy and the Russification policy, which culminated in the creation of a separate Chełm Governorate in 1912.

The next module covers the Austrian occupation from 1915, when Polish schools and organisations began to operate in the town. The following one begins with the liberation of Chełm on 2 November 1918 by soldiers of the Polish Military Organisation led by Cavalry Captain Gustaw Orlicz-Dreszer. In the Second Polish Republic the town was to receive the seat of the Regional Railway Directorate and a modern housing estate. The municipal council was active, and many primary and secondary schools opened in the town. There were printing houses, local newspapers, amateur theatres and cinemas.

Among the exhibits is a fragment of a Torah scroll, probably from the old synagogue burned down during the Second World War. The multinational society of interwar Chełm was made up of Poles, Jews and Ukrainians.