French Memorial To Young Victims Of The Holocaust Vandalized

Residents of the children’s home in Izieu, France. Image by Jewish Virtual Library

By JTA August 9, 2017

(JTA) — A French memorial to young victims of the Holocaust was vandalized.

The memorial, a plaque bearing the names of 44 children and 7 adults who were deported in 1944 from the Children’s Home of Izieu in eastern France, was knocked off its base in a public garden in the city of Lyon and smashed. Most of the children were killed in Auschwitz, only one of their teachers, who were deported with them following a raid on the home by the Lyon Gestapo, survived the Holocaust.

In a statement issued Tuesday French President Emmanuel Macron denounced the “shameful and cowardly act that won’t remain unpunished.”

“We are horrified but we won’t give up. We’ll rebuild it,” Jean Levy, the head of a charity committed to preserving the memory of the deported children, told the French news agency AFP.

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