Kris Draven is a Detroit-based storyteller of Polish descent with a passion for uncovering forgotten or overlooked human stories. He grew up in Poland under a communist regime, where personal histories of suffering, resilience, and quiet courage were often shared behind closed doors. These experiences shaped his sensitivity to human struggle and his deep interest in history.
Alicja Karlic: Your new novel, Love and Survival: Anna’s Medallion, has already sparked conversations among readers who are drawn to stories of resilience, memory, and the quiet heroism of ordinary people. What first compelled you to write this book?
Kris Draven: Anna’s Medallion is rooted in my own family history. My grandparents were among the hundreds of thousands of Poles taken to Germany as forced laborers during the war. Growing up, I heard fragments of their story—never the whole thing, just pieces carried in silence. Fiction became a way to honor them, to give shape to what they endured, and to share a universal message about endurance, love, and the strength of the human spirit. Writing this novel was my way of saying: your suffering mattered, your courage mattered, your love mattered.
Alicja Karlic: The novel moves between past and present, between generations, between Poland and America. Why was this structure important to you?
Kris Draven: Although Anna’s Medallion is a work of fiction, its historical foundation is very real. The system of forced labor imposed by Nazi Germany, the brutality of camps like Buchenwald and Ravensbrück—these are not distant abstractions. They shaped families, identities, and entire communities. By moving between generations, I wanted to show how trauma and love both echo forward. The past is never truly past; it lives in the stories we inherit, the silences we grow up inside, and the symbols—like Anna’s medallion—that survive long after the people who carried them.
The novel begins in 1941 in occupied Poland. Anna, a young resistance courier, is torn from her family and deported to Germany. Filip, a poor farm boy from a nearby village, shares her fate. Their daily existence is marked by exhaustion, humiliation, and fear—yet also by a fragile, defiant tenderness. When their captors separate them, sending Anna to Ravensbrück and Filip to Buchenwald, the medallion becomes their lifeline, a promise that refuses to die.
Alicja Karlic: Many of our readers will recognize echoes of their own family histories. Was this intentional?
Kris Draven: Very much so. I wanted readers—especially Polish and Polish‑American readers—to feel seen. So many families carry stories of deportation, resistance, hunger, separation, and survival. Some of these stories were told openly; others were buried under decades of silence. My hope was to create a narrative that resonates across generations, one that invites readers to reflect on their own lineage and perhaps even to ask new questions at their own kitchen tables.
Alicja Karlic: Your portrayal of survival is neither romanticized nor stripped of hope. How did you navigate that balance?
Kris Draven: Survival is complicated. It’s not heroic in the cinematic sense. It’s often quiet, painful, and morally ambiguous. But within that darkness, there are moments of astonishing humanity—acts of kindness, loyalty, and love that defy the logic of cruelty. I wanted to honor both truths. Anna and Filip survive not because they are fearless, but because they hold on to something larger than fear: the belief that love, dignity, and memory are worth fighting for.
Alicja Karlic: What do you want Polish American readers to gain from this novel?
Kris Draven: I hope they feel a sense of connection—to their ancestors, to their heritage, and to the broader human story of endurance. The novel has been praised for its authenticity and emotional depth, and I’m grateful for that. But what matters most to me is that readers come away with a renewed understanding of how love can become a force for survival, even in the face of unimaginable cruelty. If the book encourages conversations between generations—about what was endured, what was lost, and what still lives on—then I’ve done my job.
Alicja Karlic: Will there be a continuation of Anna’s story in America?
Kris Draven: I’ve considered continuing the family story because many readers seem to want more, but Anna’s and Adam’s stories end with this book… at least for now. Although my family went through a dramatic upheaval again during the 1980s at the hands of the communist regime, I believe there are also many other stories that are worth exploring in the future.
Alicja Karlic: Where can we buy your book?
Kris Draven: The book is currently only sold on Amazon. You can find it easily by typing the book’s title or my author name. I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave an Amazon review after you’re done reading the book. This will help Amazon suggest “Anna’s Medallion” to other readers and thus help them learn about this important time in human history, so that our mistakes are never repeated again.
Alicja Karlic: Thank you, thank you for the conversation.
