Stavroupoli ( el, Σταυρούπολη) is a village and a former municipality in the Xanthi regional unit,

East Macedonia and Thrace Eastern Macedonia and Thrace ( el, Ανατολική Μακεδονία και Θράκη, translit=Anatolikí Makedonía ke Thráki, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the northeastern parts of the coun ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace. A ...

, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 342.002 km². Population 2,050 (2011). Stavroupoli and Nestos Valley (Greek: Κοιλάδα του Νέστου) including

Nestos River Nestos ( ), Mesta ( ), or formerly the Mesta Karasu in Turkish (Karasu meaning "black river"), is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the Aegean Sea near the island of Thasos. It plunges down towering ...

Tempi (Greek: Τέμπη του Νέστου) is a popular tour region and vacation target in North Greece. The municipal unit Stavroupoli is subdivided into the communities Dafnonas,

Gerakas Gerakas ( el, Γέρακας) is a suburb of Athens and a former municipality in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pallini, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. In antiquity Gera ...

, Karyofyto, Komnina, Neochori,

Paschalia Paschalia is a settlement in the municipality Xanthi in the Xanthi regional unit of Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Stavroupoli Stavroupoli ( el, Σταυρούπολη, literally ''city of the Cross'') is a suburb of the Thessal ...

and Stavroupoli. The community Stavroupoli consists of the settlements Stavroupoli, Lykodromi, Kallithea and Margariti.

History

During the Bulgarian administration of the region in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

from 1941 to 1944, the village was infamous as the location of the Krastopole or Enikyoy

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

where

Bulgarian Communist Party The Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; bg, Българска Комунистическа Партия (БКП), Balgarska komunisticheska partiya (BKP)) was the founding and ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 198 ...

and other left-wing enemies of the ruling regime were interned.

Names

Under

Ottoman rule Ottoman is the Turkish spelling of the Arabic masculine given name Uthman ( ar, عُثْمان, ‘uthmān). It may refer to: Governments and dynasties * Ottoman Caliphate, an Islamic caliphate from 1517 to 1924 * Ottoman Empire, in existence fro ...

, the Ottoman Turkish name of the village was يڭى كوى ''Yeni Köy'' (in Greek, Γενή Κιόι, in Bulgarian Еникьой ''Enikyoy'') 'New Village'.Tahir Sezen, ''Osmanlı Yer Adları'', Ankara 2017, T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü Yayın No: 2
''s.v.'', p. 814
/ref> The Bulgarian name was ''Krastopole'' bg, Кръстополе 'cross field'. Its name was

Hellenized Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...

as Stavroupolis 'cross city' in May, 1920, soon after it was ceded to Greece.Institute for Neohellenic Research, "Name Changes of Settlements in Greece"
''s.v.''
/ref>

Notable people

George Papassavas George Papassavas (born 28 January 1924) is a Greek painter who has traveled extensively throughout Latin America. Born in Stavroupoli, Greece, Papassavas against his father's will taught himself the techniques of the classical artist at a young ...

(1924) painter *

Katerina Sakellaropoulou Katerina Sakellaropoulou ( el, Κατερίνα Σακελλαροπούλου, Latn, el, Katerína Sakellaropoúlou, ; born 30 May 1956) is a Greek judge who has been the president of Greece since 13 March 2020. She was elected by the Hellenic ...

(2020) The first female president of Hellenic republic

References

External links

Δήμος Σταυρούπολης (in Greek and English)
Populated places in Xanthi (regional unit) {{EMacedoniaThrace-geo-stub el:Δήμος Ξάνθης#Ενότητα Σταυρούπολης