| Flag of Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic | |
| |
| Adopted | December 25, 1951 |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Milkahil Gusyev |
| Proportions | 1:2 |
This flag was adopted by the Byelorussian SSR on December 25, 1951 (Christmas Day). Prior to this, the flag was red with the Cyrillic characters БССР (BSSR) in gold in the top-left corner, surrounded by a gold border. Between 1937 and the adoption of the above flag in the 1940s, the flag was the same, but with a gold hammer and sickle above the Cyrillic characters and no border. Between 1919 and 1937, the flag was red, with the Cyrillic characters ССРБ (SSRB) in the top left-hand corner. In early 1919, a plain red flag was used. The final BySSR flag was used until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. A flag based on this design is used as the current national flag of Belarus.