MONTREAL — The “duty to remember” the Holocaust is sacred, a way to keep such “horrifying tragedies” from recurring, a sombre Quebec Premier Jean Charest said at Sunday evening’s annual community Holocaust commemoration.

Survivor Ben Bicher, with granddaughter Jordana Jarvis, left, and daughter Janice, light the first memorial candle at the community Holocaust commemoration.

“In order to live with the hope of peace, we must honour the victims,” Charest told 1,400 people at Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem synagogue.

It was Charest’s historic first appearance at the event, organized by the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre (MHMC). He was accompanied by his wife, Michèle Dionne, and was seated beside Israeli Consul General Yoram Elron.

 Contrary to a program note by MHMC asking audience members to refrain from applause, he received more than a scattering twice.

 His remarks included copious praise for Quebec’s Jewish community and reference to historic 1999 legislation sponsored by Liberal MNA Lawrence Bergman proclaiming an annual Holocaust Memorial Day in Quebec.

Charest recalled that it passed unanimously.

This year’s theme, for the first time, was “The Life That Was,” a remembrance of communities lost in the Holocaust, as opposed to individuals.

Marcel Tenenbaum, MHMC’s Yom Hashoah committee co-chair with Jack Dym, noted they included 43 “major” Jewish communities and hundreds of others that just “vanished.”

Survivors Ben Bicher, Henry Gitelman, Susan Arato, Charlotte Szyf, Emil Svarc and Sarah Engelhard, with second- and third- generation family members, lit six memorial candles. The survivors were shown on video screens, describing their communities and survival.

Those recollections were interspersed with readings and Bialik High School choir performances under Lorna Smith; a “Recitation of Communities,” by Renata Zajdman and Stanley Grunfeld, and “The Promise” by second- and third-generation to carry forward the Holocaust message.

Other speakers included Elron and Anna Fishman-Gonshor, representing the second generation. Natalie Constantine provided translation in sign language.

The audience included many diplomats, including from former “axis” nations such as Poland and Germany, politicians from three levels of government and community figures.

Last Monday, Mayor Gerald Tremblay was to appear at a B’nai Brith Canada Holocaust event at Montreal City Hall.