Vatochori
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Vatochori | |
|---|---|
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  Vatochori | |
| Coordinates: 40°40′14″N 21°8′53″E / 40.67056°N 21.14806°E | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | Western Macedonia |
| Regional unit | Florina |
| Municipality | Prespes |
| Municipal unit | Prespes |
| Community | Vatochori |
| Population (2021)[1] | |
• Community | 10 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Vatochori (Greek: Βατοχώρι, before 1927: Μπρένιτσα – Brenitsa,[2][3] Macedonian: Брезница, Breznica)[4] is a community and village in Florina Regional Unit, Western Macedonia, Greece. The village has an altitude of 880 m (2,890 ft).[5]
Vatochori is located in the Korestia area and situated in mountainous terrain.[6] The total land area of the village Vatochori is 3,011 hectares, with a majority as forest, followed by use for agriculture, grasslands and a small remainder for other uses.[7] Some of the architecture of Vatochori consists of stone houses.[8] The modern village economy is based on lumbering, agriculture and livestock.[8]
A Christian village, most of the inhabitants belonged to the Bulgarian Exarchate.[9] In the late nineteenth century, a few Aromanian families also lived in the village.[10] The population numbered 650 in 1912,[9] 877 in 1920 and 605 in 1928.[11] Several families from Vatochori immigrated to Bulgaria.[9] 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.[6] The village population numbered 770 in 1940.[5][11]
In mid–1941 Vatochori along with Slavic Macedonian inhabitants from several villages partook in a celebration commemorating the Battle of Lokvata, fought by Bulgarian revolutionaries (Komitadjis) against Ottoman soldiers in 1903.[12] During the Axis retreat from Greece in World War II, a German military convoy was attacked at Vatochori by guerillas resulting in 2 dead and 32 surrendered.[13] In the Greek Civil War, the village was occupied by the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG).[14]
The population of Vatochori, a Slavic Macedonian village was reduced by 70 percent due to the impacts of the Second World War and the civil war.[15] The population of Vatochori was 232 in 1951, 232 in 1961,[5] 54 in 1981 and 23 in 2011.[11] The modern village population is small and in decline.[8]