As part of the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940, a series of 13 stamps were issued, depicting the arms of Soviet Latvia and inscribed “Latvijas // PSR”.

The stamp illustrated shows the German occupation overprint for Latvia, 1941

These were shortly superseded by the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany. At first existing stocks of Russian stamps were used, overprinted “LATVIJA // 1941 // 1. VII”, then regular German stamps came into use, in October 1941.

In April 1945, German stamps were overprinted “KURLAND” and used in Courland.