Strezimirovci

Strezimirovci
Стрезимировци

Border checkpoint in Strezimirovci (Bulgarian side)
Coordinates: 42°48′N 22°26′E / 42.800°N 22.433°E / 42.800; 22.433Coordinates: 42°48′N 22°26′E / 42.800°N 22.433°E / 42.800; 22.433
Country  Bulgaria,  Serbia
Province/District Pernik, Pčinja
Elevation 830 m (2,720 ft)
Population (2008)
 • Total 25 (BUL), 53 (SRB)

Strezimirovci (Serbian and Bulgarian: Стрезимировци; also Strezimirovtsi, Strezimirovtzi) is a divided village in easternmost Serbia and westernmost Bulgaria. The Bulgarian half of the village is part of Tran Municipality, Pernik Province, whereas the Serbian part belongs to Surdulica municipality, Pčinja District. The village has a border checkpoint and its residents on either side of the border are mostly Bulgarian; however, its division has caused its population to decrease more than tenfold. It lies in the geographic region of Znepolje (Znepole), at 42°48′N 22°26′E / 42.800°N 22.433°E / 42.800; 22.433, in a valley along the Jerma (or Erma) River, 830 metres above mean sea level.

A war memorial to a Soviet Solder in Strezimirovtsi

The village was first mentioned in Ottoman registers of 1451 as Stryazimirovtsi and in 1453 as İstrazumirofca. Its name is derived from the personal name Strezimir (Стрезимир).[1] From the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 until the post-World War I Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine of 1919, Strezimirovci was located in Bulgaria and was administratively part of the Tran district of Sofia Province. As Bulgaria participated in the war on the side of the Central Powers, it was obliged to cede a Bulgarian-populated area of 1,545 km² to Serbia,[2] a region afterwards known in Bulgaria as the "Western Outlands".[3] The new border did not take the location of extant communities, property, roads and rivers into account, it was drawn so as to give Serbia a strategic importance in future wars.[4] Strezimirovci was among 25 villages more or less divided into two by the new Serbian-Bulgarian border.[5] Reputedly, four locals even tricked the international commission sent to mark the border by moving the temporary border stones overnight in order to include more of the village in Bulgaria.[6]

As a consequence of this bisection, the village's population has declined significantly on either side of the border. For example, the Serbian part had a population of 485 in 1948; by 2002, it had decreased to 53, of whom 47 Bulgarians (88.67%), 4 Yugoslavs (7.54%) and 2 Serbs (3.77%).[7] The Bulgarian part of Strezimirovci is only inhabited by 25 people as of June 2008.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Чолева-Димитрова, Анна М. (2002). Селищни имена от Югозападна България: Изследване. Речник (in Bulgarian). София: Пенсофт. p. 172. ISBN 954-642-168-5. OCLC 57603720.
  2. ↑ Колев, Йордан (2005). Българите извън България (in Bulgarian). София: Тангра ТанНакРа. p. 127. ISBN 954-9942-73-2.
  3. ↑ Колев, Българите извън България, p. 125.
  4. ↑ Пантев, Андрей (1981). "Проекти на САЩ за определяне на границите на България през 1918–1919 г.". Исторически Преглед (in Bulgarian). 1: 33–50.
  5. ↑ Колев, Българите извън България, p. 127.
  6. ↑ "Курбан в храма "Св. Архангел Гавраил" събира потомци на разделените родове" (in Bulgarian). Стрезимировци. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  7. ↑ @Republika Srbija. Republički zavod za statistiku. (February 2003). Књига 1, Становништво, национална или етничка припадност, подаци по насељима. Београд: Републички завод за статистику. ISBN 86-84433-00-9. External link in |publisher= (help)
  8. ↑ "Таблица на населението по постоянен и настоящ адрес" (in Bulgarian). Главна дирекция "Гражданска регистрация и административно обслужване". 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  9. ↑ The article name spelling is according to which part of the village has a larger population; the other spelling is also given. Only villages that are populated on both sides are listed: in some cases, only uninhabited or afterwards abandoned village areas are left in Bulgaria or Serbia.
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