Strezimirovci ( Serbian and bg, Стрезимировци; also ''Strezimirovtsi'', ''Strezimirovtzi'') is a divided village in easternmost

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

and westernmost

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. The Bulgarian half of the village is part of

Tran Municipality Tran may refer to: Arts, media, and entertainment * "Tran", a novel in the Janissaries series named for a fictional planet * Dr. Tran, an animated miniseries People * Trần (陳), a Vietnamese surname * Tran, member of the Nazi-era comedy duo ...

Pernik Province Pernik Province is a province in western Bulgaria, neighbouring Serbia. Its main city is Pernik, and other municipalities are Breznik, Kovachevtsi, Radomir, Tran, and Zemen. Population Pernik province had a population of 133,750 according ...

, whereas the Serbian part belongs to

Surdulica Surdulica ( sr-cyr, Сурдулица) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. As of 2011, the population of the town is 11,400, while the municipality has 20,319 inhabitants. History Historically, the tow ...

municipality,

Pčinja District The Pčinja District ( sr, Пчињски округ, Pčinjski okrug, ) is one of nine administrative districts of Southern and Eastern Serbia. It covers the southern part of Serbia, bordering the disputed territory of Kosovo, along with Bulgaria ...

. The village has a

border checkpoint A border checkpoint is a location on an international border where travelers or goods are inspected and allowed (or denied) passage through. Authorization often is required to enter a country through its borders. Access-controlled borders ofte ...

and its residents on either side of the border are mostly

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

; however, its division has caused its population to decrease more than tenfold. It lies in the geographic region of Znepolje (Znepolјe), at , in a valley along the Jerma (or Erma) River, 830 metres

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

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). From the

Liberation of Bulgaria The Liberation of Bulgaria is the historical process as a result of the Bulgarian Revival. In Bulgarian historiography, the liberation of Bulgaria refers to those events of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishme ...

in 1878 until the post-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine (french: Traité de Neuilly-sur-Seine) required Bulgaria to cede various territories, after Bulgaria had been one of the Central Powers defeated in World War I. The treaty was signed on 27 November 1919 at Neuilly ...

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 The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

, it was obliged to cede a Bulgarian-populated area of 1,545 km² to Serbia, a region afterwards known in Bulgaria as the "

Western Outlands The Western (Bulgarian) Outlands () is a term used by Bulgarians to describe several regions located in southeastern Serbia. The territories in question were ceded by Bulgaria to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1920 as a resul ...

". 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. Strezimirovci was among 25 villages more or less divided into two by the new Serbian-Bulgarian border. 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. 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

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

(88.67%), 4

Yugoslavs Yugoslavs or Yugoslavians ( Bosnian and Croatian: ''Jugoslaveni'', Serbian and Macedonian ''Jugosloveni''/Југословени; sl, Jugoslovani) is an identity that was originally designed to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has b ...

(7.54%) and 2

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely unders ...

(3.77%). The Bulgarian part of Strezimirovci is only inhabited by 25 people as of June 2008.

References

External links

Website about Strezimirovci
* {{Tran Municipality Villages in Pernik Province Divided cities Populated places in Pčinja District Bulgaria–Serbia border crossings

See also

References

External links