OREANDA-NEWS. On 15 May 2009 was announced, that at a ceremony on May 4, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers presented the Latvian Order of Three Stars, fourth grade, to Kazimirs Dundurs, long-time director and former president of the joint stock company Preses Nams for his investment in developing and strengthening the printing profession and in protecting the freedom of the press during the Latvian National Renaissance.

Dundurs was the main administrator of Preses Nams for many years. He was hired by the Central Committee of the Soviet Latvian communist Party in 1979 as head of its publishing unit. In 1989, he was chosen as president of Preses Nams. From 1989 until his retirement in 2005, Dundurs was chairman of the Preses Nams council.

Dundurs’ chief investment in the development of Latvia’s printing industry was the establishment of the stock company Preses Nams. He protected the important company and its work during the National Renaissance in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the printed press played a major role in the restoration of national independence. Dundurs was active and very courageous for his time. Despite efforts on the part of the Soviet authorities, he brought his company out from under the control of Moscow’s economic framework. The newspaper and magazine publishing enterprise that was owned by the Communist Party (later to become Preses Nams) was turned over to the Latvian government, and the stock company Preses Nams was eventually the result. During the most dramatic days of the independence struggle, Preses Nams was occupied by militarists. Dundurs didn’t care, and the company’s brand was preserved in the hands of its lawful administrators. When journalists and printers were forced to evacuate the building, Dundurs helped to organise a temporary printing facility so that readers could once again receive their newspapers.