De Joodse Raad - Episode Guide

February 1941. Unrest increases in Jewish Amsterdam. The Germans appoint a Jewish committee to keep the situation under control. Respected regents, Abraham Asscher and David Cohen, take office as chairs. They see cooperation with the occupier as the best way to ensure that the daily life of the Jewish community continues as normally as possible. The war will not last long; the Germans can never win. A raid on Koco's ice cream parlor and the resistance to it lead to a gruesome raid and doubts arise about the Jewish Council and its chairmen. Also with Virrie Cohen, daughter and 'favourite' of David Cohen.

The anti-Jewish measures taken by the Germans are becoming increasingly worse: Jews are obliged to wear a yellow star and the Jewish Council must coordinate this. When it turns out that council employees are eligible for a 'Sperre', which exempts them from deportation, doubts about the Council grow. Despite accusations of favoritism, David Cohen is standing his ground: as a Council, they cannot abandon their community now. Especially now that the deportations of Jews in Amsterdam have officially begun. Virrie sees the image of her 'perfect' father increasingly disappearing. Especially when she finds out a secret in his private life.

As Virrie begins to distance herself from her father, the situation for the Jewish community deteriorates. To everyone's shock, the Sperre suddenly no longer offers protection. Asscher and Cohen protest to the Germans and receive twenty exemptions as 'consolation'. The children's department where Virrie works is being transported. When Virrie is on the train with the children, she is forcibly removed from it before departure; after all, she is the daughter of the chairman. The fragile bond between father and daughter is now completely broken. Virrie is furious and cannot forgive her father for this. She reports to the resistance.

May 1943. The Germans demand that 7,000 employees of the Jewish Council be transported. The Council is faced with an inhumane choice: draw up the list itself or let the Germans choose it at random? Virrie works in the daycare center opposite the Hollandsche Schouwburg and arranges hiding places for children. With a limited number of places, she will now have to choose, just like her father: who will be kept safe and who will not?

1947. Virrie reunites a mother with her child, who went into hiding as a baby. Meanwhile, her father and Asscher are arrested for collaborating with the occupying forces. The investigation into the Jewish Council and its chairmen brings up many old hurts. Virrie still dreams every night of the children she had to give up to the Germans. New information from the investigation puts the disturbed relationship between Virrie and David on edge. While Virrie tries to shape her life apart from her father, David Cohen continues to defend his choices. Can father and daughter ever grow closer together?