Ep 362: The Past Has an Afterlife with Gilad Avrahami and guest Trevor Stern P1 on hmTv

Episode 362 — The Past Has an Afterlife

Guest: Trevor Stern | Host: Gilad Avrahami | hmTv / HMTC**

In this inaugural episode of The Past Has an Afterlife, Programs and Development Coordinator Gilad Avrahami sits down with scholar Trevor Stern for a riveting dive into the world of collective memory — how we inherit it, how we shape it, and how it shapes us.

Trevor, a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, traces his unusual upbringing as “the only Jewish kid in town” through life in Egypt and India, revealing how identity is formed in unlikely places. From there, the conversation explores the difference between individual and communal remembrance, how stories from the past become narratives we live by, and why certain histories rise to prominence while others disappear into silence.

Together, they confront challenging questions:

• Who gets represented in Holocaust memory — and who is missing?
 • How does society decide which events to remember?
 • What happens when the past is used as a tool in today’s political and cultural debates?

Timely, layered, and thought-provoking, this episode sets the tone for a series dedicated to examining how memory isn’t static — it’s alive, contested, reshaped, and deeply consequential for how we understand our world.

Subscribe, listen, and join the conversation as hmTv explores how history lives beyond history — and why it matters more than ever.

Transcript

Ep. 362 – The Past Has an Afterlife with Gilad Avrahami and Guest Trevor Stern (Part 1)
hmTv / HMTC

Gilad: Hello, and thank you for joining me today. I’m your host, Gilad Avrahami, Programs and Development Coordinator here at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County.

This podcast is a production of HMTC, and in today’s inaugural episode of The Past Has an Afterlife on hmTv, my special guest, Trevor Stern, joins me for a conversation about collective memory.

What is it? How is it formed? And why should we think more deeply about how it’s being used?

Trevor has worked extensively on these themes in his scholarship in religion and Jewish studies. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

From my own conversations with Trevor, I can say they’re always rich and thought-provoking. So Trevor, let’s begin at the beginning: how did you arrive here? Where did you grow up, and what role did Judaism play in your life?

Segment 1: Early Identity & Experience

Trevor: First, thank you so much for having me, Gilad — I really appreciate it.
I was born in New York City, but we moved to Cleveland, Ohio when I was about one and a half. I grew up in a small town called Chesterland, and my family was essentially the only Jewish family there.

We attended a conservative synagogue in the city, but Jewish life for me was mostly in the home. Later, when my father joined the State Department, we lived overseas — Egypt, then New Delhi, then back in Maryland until I left for college. Again, my Jewish identity existed in places where Jewish life was small, almost hidden.

Segment 2: Encountering Collective Memory

Gilad: We met in college, where you majored in history and religion. Was there a connecting thread?

Trevor: Yes. I didn’t know the term “collective memory” until college. A course we took on World War I, World War II, and the Holocaust introduced me to it.
What fascinated me was not only what happened in the past, but how people think about the past — how memory becomes meaning, how it evolves, and how it differs from history. That idea shaped my work going forward.

Segment 3: Defining Collective Memory

Gilad: So what exactly is collective memory? How does it differ from individual memory?

Trevor: Individual memory is personal — I remember a Broadway show I saw yesterday.
Collective memory refers to events we didn’t personally experience but inherit meaning from. Masada is a good example — forgotten for centuries, revived in early Zionism as a symbol of Jewish resilience. Nobody alive experienced it, yet it became a powerful shared story.

Segment 4: How Memory Travels

Gilad: So how does collective memory get transmitted?

Trevor: It depends. Families carry shared stories — like my great-grandfather fleeing Germany in 1938 and losing his parents in the Holocaust. That shapes how we see ourselves.

But memory also transmits through museums, national commemorations, films, education, and public discourse. Think of it like Russian nesting dolls: family, community, nation — each layer holds memory differently.

Segment 5: Whose Stories Get Told?

Gilad: Let’s talk about Holocaust remembrance. What choices have you observed, and how do they align — or not — with your family’s story?

Trevor: One issue is representation. Many victims, especially in Eastern Europe, were Orthodox Jews — yet they are often underrepresented in museums and narratives.

Contemporary audiences more easily empathize with people who resemble them. But if we only empathize with those who look like us, we distort who actually perished and risk shrinking empathy itself.

Segment 6: Holocaust Memory in Today’s Debates

Gilad: Collective memory shapes how we think and act today. How is Holocaust memory being used now, especially after October 7th?

Trevor: We’re seeing something unusual — both sides of today’s conflict invoking the Holocaust. Jews and Israelis reference the Holocaust to articulate grief and threat. Meanwhile, some pro-Palestinian activists use Holocaust analogies as critique.

That creates what I’d call a “memory war,” where the same historical event is claimed by opposing narratives.

There are responsible and irresponsible uses. Broad comparisons risk diluting the Holocaust. But calling out propaganda that echoes Nazi imagery — like posters depicting Jews as predatory animals — is legitimate. The key is precision, respect, and not collapsing vastly different events into one another.

Closing

Gilad: Trevor, it has been a true pleasure speaking with you. There is so much more we could explore, and I hope you’ll join us again.

Trevor: I plan on it.

Gilad: Wonderful. And thank you all for tuning in to this episode of The Past Has an Afterlife on hmTv. My thanks again to Trevor Stern for sharing his insight into collective memory.

If you enjoyed today’s conversation, explore our other programs on hmTv. Please subscribe, share, and stay connected for more engaging discussions.

Until next time — take care and be well.