Emblem of the Latvian SSR ( lv, Latvijas PSR valsts ģerbonis) was adopted on August 25, 1940, by the government of the Latvian SSR. It was based on the emblem of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. It features symbols of agriculture (wheat) and Latvia's maritime culture (a sunset over the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

). The red star as well as the hammer and sickle for the victory of communism and the "world-wide socialist community of states". The banner bears the USSR State motto (" Proletarians of all countries, unite!") in both

Latvian language Latvian ( ), also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well ...

(''Visu zemju proletārieši, savienojieties!'') and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. The name of the Latvian SSR is shown only in Latvian, and reads ''Latvijas PSR'', the PSR standing for ''Padomju Sociālistiskā Republika'', or Soviet Socialist Republic. Until 1978, a gold star was used in the state emblem. The

coat of arms of Latvia Coat of arms of Republic of Latvia was officially adopted by the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia on 15 June 1921, and was in official use from 19 August 1921. It was created using new national symbols and elements of coats of arms of Polish and ...

was restored in 1990. The use and exhibition of the emblem of the SSR is now banned in Latvia, due to a law approved in 2013.

History

Flags and Coat of Arms of the Latvian SSR

In the period from the creation of Latvian SSR on July 21 to August 25, 1940, the coat of arms of the

Republic of Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

continued to be used. On August 17, 1940, postage stamps of the 10th standard issue were issued in accordance with the drawings of the artist Jānis Šternbergs with the image of the state small arms. On August 25, 1940, in the second session of the

People's Saeima People's, branded as ''People's Viennaline'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. Gallen-Altenr ...

of the LSSR the Constitution of the Latvian SSR was approved, Article 116 of which described the coat of arms of the SSR: In the description it is indicated that the sun "rises from the sea", but due to the geographical features of Latvia, located on the eastern coast of the

, the sun over the sea could be seen only in the west, i.e. on the sunset. This fact then became the reason for many jokes about the decline of socialism in Latvia. The project of the emblem was created by graphic artist Artūrs Apinis, a former pupil of

Rihards Zariņš Rihards Zariņš (also Richards Zarriņš or Richard Sarrinsch in German; 27 June 1869 – 21 April 1939) was a prominent Latvian graphic artist. Life He was born in Kocēni and grew up in Līgatne and later in Grīva. He pursued his studies ...

and a professor of the Art Academy of Latvia. Unlike the arms of the USSR and the arms of the majority of other SSRs, the hammer handle was located above the blade of the sickle, and not under it. Most of the revisions after the creations of the coat of arms were barely noticeable. The new edition of the Regulations on the State Emblem of the Latvian SSR, published in 1979, clarified that "the star is depicted in red" and a color and the outline of the state emblem of the Latvian SSR is given.

Restoration of the Latvian coat of arms

On July 28, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR adopted the declaration "On State Sovereignty of the Latvian SSR", and on February 15, 1990, the Supreme Council of the Latvian SSR adopted the Declaration on the State Independence of the Latvian SSR and restored the pre-war

Coat of arms of Latvia Coat of arms of Republic of Latvia was officially adopted by the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia on 15 June 1921, and was in official use from 19 August 1921. It was created using new national symbols and elements of coats of arms of Polish and ...

as the official coat of arms.

References

{{Coat of arms of the Soviet Republics Latvian SSR Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Latvian SSR Latvian SSR Latvian SSR Latvian SSR Latvian SSR Symbols introduced in 1940

History

Restoration of the Latvian coat of arms

See also

References