Trivouno

Trivouno (Greek: Τρίβουνο, before 1927: Τύρσια – Tyrsia;^[1][2] Bulgarian: Търсие, Tarsie;^[3] Macedonian: Трсје, Trsje)^[4] was a village in Florina Regional Unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. Situated at an altitude of 1,156 m (3,793 ft), the abandoned village is located 15 kilometres south–west from Florina.^[4][5][6] Trivouno was located in the Korestia area and situated in mountainous terrain.^[7] It was part of the community of Simos Ioannidis.

Tyrsia was a Slavic–Macedonian village.^[8] The inhabitants were Christian and belonged to the Bulgarian Exarchate.^[5] Due to its mountainous location, Tyrsia experienced poverty and gurbet (economic migration).^[8] In the 19th century, the first village school was established by Father Gerasim, an Exarchist priest.^[9] Following the Ilinden Uprising (1903), economic migration from the village changed toward a transatlantic direction and over time its population of youth decreased.^[10] Immigrants from Tyrsia in Toronto, Canada participated in the early Bulgarian community to build church infrastructure.^[11] The village population numbered 900 in 1912.^[5]

War and new borders severed the wider area from the economic centres of Bitola and Korçë, leaving only Thessaloniki.^[10] Tyrsia had some pro–Bulgarian supporters and the Greek state viewed the village with suspicion.^[10] People from Tyrsia fought in Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) in Anatolia and in Albania.^[10] The village population numbered 650 in 1928^[5] and 629 in 1940.^[6] Reliant on agricultural activities and some remittances from immigrants abroad, the average yearly family income of the village in the late interwar period was 10,700 drachmas.^[7]

In World War Two, Trivouno was on the borderline of the Italian and German occupation zones in Greece.^[12] The first guerrilla fighters in the village originated from the Bitola area.^[12] During 1943, the National Liberation Front (EAM), a Greek resistance organisation controlled Trivouno and by mid–1944, they recognised a Slavic–Macedonian presence.^[12] Throughout the conflict, inhabitants experienced difficult living circumstances, a black market economy formed and Italian troops stole local poultry.^[12] Community tensions emerged as some villagers supported either the Bulgarian or Greek–Monarchist causes.^[12] The village was a centre for Komitadjis and the majority of its inhabitants were pro–Bulgarian.^[13] A recruitment drive promising Macedonian autonomy by Yugoslav partisans in the area resulted in 8 villagers joining their movement in early 1944.^[13]

In the Greek Civil War, the village was occupied by the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG).^[14] Many people joined DAG during the civil war and in mid–1947, Greek government forces razed Trivouno.^[15] Villagers became dispersed, while 115 children were evacuated to Yugoslavia and other Eastern Bloc countries with some family reunions occurring 20 years later.^[15] The defeat of DAG made many inhabitants go into exile, either to Yugoslav Macedonia or Soviet Uzbekistan.^[15] Several villagers were arrested by the Greek government and given either long or life prison sentences and others the death penalty for assisting communist forces.^[16] In 1951, Trivouno had 284 people.^[6]

Difficult economic circumstances made the remaining population immigrate to either Canada or Australia and settle among earlier migrants from the village who left in the 1930s.^[15] Trivouno had 229 inhabitants in 1961.^[6] For reasons of development and security, the Greek government during the late 1960s forcibly relocated the remaining inhabitants to the neighbourhoods of Florina.^[15][17] The Greek census of 1991 recorded 2 people in Trivouno.^[15]