Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, has condemned the desecration of a memorial to the Jewish children who were deported to Nazi death camps from eastern France in 1944.

Mr Macron yesterday called the vandalism a “shameful and cowardly act that won’t remain unpunished”.

A plaque bearing the names of the victims – 44 children and seven adults – was broken and removed from its base in a public garden near Lyon.

Gerard Collomb, the French interior minister, described the attack as “cowardly and despicable”.

On April 6 1944 the Lyon Gestapo, headed by Klaus Barbie, raided a Jewish orphanage in nearby Izieu, arresting children and teachers. Most of those detained perished in Auschwitz, with only one adult surviving.

In 1987 Sabine Zlatin, who ran the home, testified against Barbie during his trial for war crimes. She was later instrumental in having the memorial erected in 1994.