INTERVIEW Jacques Maritain on Anti-Semitism and Human Rights: A Conversation with Daniele Lorenzini Daniele Lorenzini* Abstract As we mark the seventieth anniversary of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the ongoing contemporary publishing boom in the history of the origins of human rights affords us an opportunity to better understand the philosopher Jacques Maritain’s distinctive contribution to the post-Second World War human rights project. Daniele Lorenzini’s groundbreaking research into Maritain’s thought and activism during this period offers human rights educators a fresh resource for thinking and talking about the foundations of that project. The JHRP’s Brian Phillips recently spoke with Daniele Lorenzini in New York City. Keywords: anti-Semitism; Committee of Catholics for Human Rights; history of human rights; Jacques Maritain; UNESCO Committee on the Theoretical Bases of Human Rights For human rights educators, any presentation or training session on the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) will most likely include some reference to what might be described as the ‘founding mothers and fathers’ of that document. Eleanor Roosevelt and René Cassin will almost always make their appearance in such a discussion—while the French philosopher Jacques Maritain is often cited as perhaps the key intellectual influence in the process leading up to 10 December 1948. As we mark the seventieth anniversary of the UDHR, the ongoing contemporary publishing boom in the history of the origins of human rights affords us an opportunity to better understand Maritain’s distinctive contribution to the post-Second World War human rights project. Philosopher Daniele Lorenzini’s groundbreaking research into Maritain’s thought and activism during this period offers human rights educators a fresh resource for thinking and talking about the foundations of that project. Daniele Lorenzini’s work is especially significant for practitioners as it provides a compelling portrait of Maritain as both scholar and advocate—a complex man of ideas concretely and passionately engaged with the defining events of his time. Daniele Lorenzini is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie ‘Move-in Louvain’ Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre Prospéro (Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles) and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Contemporary Critical Thought (Columbia University). Starting in October 2019, he will be Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He is the author of Jacques Maritain e i diritti umani [Jacques Maritain and Human Rights] (Brescia: Morcelliana, 2012), * Daniele Lorenzini (daniele.lorenzini@usaintlouis.be) is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie ‘Move-in Louvain’ Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre Prospéro (Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles) and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Contemporary Critical Thought (Columbia University).