Latvia in the Soviet Union

Last modified: 2002-11-30 by antonio martins
Keywords: latvia | latvian ssr | hammer and sickle (yellow) | star: 5 points (red) | star: 5 points (fimbriated) |
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• Description of the flag
• Reverse of the flag
• 1918 tricolor flag allowed?
• Coat of arms

• Latvia in the Soviet Union (early flags)
• Subdivisions of the Soviet Union (list, clickable map)
• Soviet Union
• Latvia

Description of the flag

The Latvian SSR flag adopted 17 January 1953 was reaffirmed by the Constitution adopted on 28 February 1967, along with a list of places and ways to fly it. This list was expanded greatly by the “Instruction Concerning the Application of the Statute on the State Flag of the Latvian SSR” confirmed May 30, 1967 by decree of the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR.
Dave Martucci, 05 Sep 1996, quoting from “Soviet State Symbolism”, a special issue of [tfb] The Flag Bulletin XI:1 (Winter 1972): 138-145

Specs.: stripes unknown!; h&s placement and size unknown! The thin white stripes seems to be due to a heraldic concern — same thing for Lithuania and Estonia, but not for the others...
António Martins, 19 Jun 2001

Reverse of the flag

by Zeljko Heimer, 17 Apr 1996 |

No hammer, sickle and star on the reverse side.
Mark Sensen, 25 May 1997

I was aware at the time that Mikhail Gorbachev had decided to let Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia fly their 1918 national flags, in addition to their S.S.R. flags.
John Crosby, 23 May 2001

Latvia achieved independence in 1990 by canceling all Soviet legislation between 1940 and 1990.
Dave Martucci, 05 Sep 1996

The emblem of the SSR was introduced 25 August 1940 (according to Hesmer [hes92]) and replaced by the current one 17 February 1990 (in force 27 February 1990).
Marcus Schmöger, 16 Sep 2001

The book [hzg80] shows this design.
Marcus Schmöger, 08 Sep 2001

And so does an official soviet handbook publ. 1980 (SSSR — Administrativno-territorialhnoe Delenie Sou^znyq Respublik). Though showing the (not fimbriated, solid golden) the star slightly less “dense”.
António Martins, 06 Nov 2002