The Jewish Council for Amsterdam: with his arms crossed sitting at the table is Asscher, on his left is Cohen.

Unrest in Amsterdam
Cause for establishing the Jewish Council were continuous riots in Amsterdam, provoked and caused by WAs *  . Late January 1941 groups of WA-men went from Vondelpark into the city centre to hang up signs with "Jews not wanted" in hotels, cafés and restaurants. They caused a disturbance by removing Jewish passengers from trams. WAs in uniform marched singing through Jewish neighbourhoods, abused passer-by's and forced entry into Jewish homes to destroy furniture or loot belongings. The owner of café-cabaret Alcazar on Thorbeckeplein refused to hang the sign "Jews not allowed" and had to watch how some WAs threw a bicycle through his window and destroy the furniture on 9 February. During subsequent fights dozens of people were injured. It quickly escalated into a battleground between Jewish thugs and the WA. The Jews were supported by people from the workers neighbourhoods Jordaan and Kattenburg; the WA was supported by German military who fought alongside them sometimes. Dutch police and military police attempted to come between them, some even used their service guns, but they were stopped by the German police.

During a fight on Waterlooplein on Tuesday evening 11 February, WA-man Hendrik Koot was heavily wounded *  and died three days later. The German occupation authorities immediately exploited Koot's death and exaggerated the circumstances. Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer Hanns Albin Rauter reported to his Berlin chief Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler that a Jews bit through Koot's artery and sucked him dry *  . His subordinate, Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD Wilhelm Harster, wrote in his weekly report of happenings that "ein Jude in viehischer Weise in die Kehle seines Opfers verbissen hatte" *  . And Hans Böhmcker, Beuftragte für die Stadt Amsterdam, told Reichskommisar Seyss-Inquart that a Jew completely sunk his teeth into Koot's face *  .

Reaction of the occupier
The German reaction came fast: the next morning at six o'clock Böhmcker sealed the Jewish neighbourhood. Bridges were raised and streets barricaded with barbed wire. That same Wednesday, at four thirty in the afternoon, he summoned three prominent people from the Jewish community to his office: Chief Rabbi D. Francès of the Portuguese Israeli municipality, Chief Rabbi L.H. Sarlouis of the Dutch Israeli Church Association and the chairman of that church association, Abraham Asscher. That latter was a diamond industrialist and member of States-Provincial of Noord-Holland for the Liberal State Party since 1917. Political cloud for these measures came from Fritz Schmidt, in occupied the Netherlands the representative of the National Socialist Workers Party, who got permission from Seyss-Inquart *  .

Böhmcker ordered the establishment of a "Judenrat", who would be responsible for the peace and order in the Jewish neighbourhood. He immediately gave his first decree: Jews had to be summoned to hand their weapons over to the police. Both Rabbis withdrew but Asscher was prepared to act as chairman, and requested professor in ancient history David Cohen to be appointed as co-chairman. They knew each other from their years in boards of directors and committees and were "always at the front of all relief efforts". Because of this role both Asscher and Cohen saw themselves as "leaders of the Jewish municipality" *  . It was, like Cohen stated after the war, "a continuation of our work, that we have done our entire lives" *  .

Establishment of the Jewish Council
At a meeting Böhmcker stated that the "Judenrat" was allowed to consist of twenty members. Asscher and Cohen approached people they knew from their previous positions by telephone. Seeing as these contacts were mainly rooted in the upper middle class, most of the possible members consisted of Jewish notables. The only two representatives from the working class were only on the council for a few months: chairman I. Voet of the General Dutch Diamond Cutters Association stepped down for health reasons and butcher A. Quiros from the Jodenbreestraat soon stepped down as well.

Thursday morning 13 February 1941 at eleven o'clock twenty men assembled in Asscher's factory. Besides chairmen Asscher and Cohen the following people came to the building on Tolhuisstraat 127-129 *  :
dr. J. Arons (doctor)
mr. N. de Beneditty (judge)
prof.mr. H. Frijda (professor)
mr. A.B. Gomperts (lawyer)
I. de Haan (manufacturer)
A. de Hoop (director Cinema Association)
mr. L.N. Kan (chairman Dutch Zionist Association)
mr. I. Kisch (university teacher)
A. Krouwer (president trading company Europe-Asia)
mr. S.J. van Lier (city manager Amsterdam)
A.J. Mendes da Costa (former secretary Portuguese-Israeli Municipality)
prof.dr. J.L. Palache (professor and chairman Portuguese-Israeli Church Association)
mr.dr. M.I. Prins (lawyer)
A. Quiros (butcher)
chief rabbi A.L. Sarlouis (chief rabbi Dutch-Israeli Main Synagogue)
dr. D.M. Sluys (secretary Dutch-Israeli Main Synagogue)
A. Soep Bzn. (diamond cutter)
I. Voet (chairman General Dutch Diamond Cutters Association)

Initially the company thought to name it the Committee for the representations of the Amsterdam Jews. The focal point of the committee would be "that it mainly would have an executive and communicational task, but not be responsible for the orders they have to communicate, and not go as far as accepting tasks that are dishonourable for Jews" *  . The twenty founders saw themselves as a local committee with limited authority, which was contrary to Bömcker's intention in establishing a "Judenrat", "damit für alle Amsterdamer Juden eine verantwortliche Vertretung vorhanden sei" *  . Neither of the committee's principles could be maintained. Late October Asscher and Cohen were told that the committee's work area had to be expanded to encompass the entire country *  , after which provincial bureaus were established.

Expansion of the Jewish Council
By that time the power and influence of the Jewish Council had grown significantly, not least of all through German measures. The ban on other Jewish organisations in the autumn of 1941 was one of the causes for the strengthened position *  . The Jewish Council controlled schools where Jewish children could follow education and provided vocational education for unemployed Jews. Financial and social support of poor Jews was supplemented by offering practical help with forced moves. Later, guiding Jews who were summoned for deportation was added as well. In the end the Jewish Council would grow to be an administrative machine with thousands of employees who regulated the life of Jews in detail on German orders *  .

The Jewish Council also got more involved with the preparation and execution of anti-Jewish measures and had to let go of the intention to not accept dishonourable tasks. The council was controlled by the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung led by Willy Lages and Ferdinand aus der Fünten. The Zentralstelle forced the Jewish Council to compile lists of non-Dutch Jews and later also of unemployed Dutch Jews. The distribution of the yellow badges also went through the council *  . German orders and ordinances were made public to the Jewish community via the Jewish Weekly. As the deportations gained momentum, the Jewish Council gained more influence in handing out exemptions from transport. A German memorandum established in 1942: "es konnte vor allem mit Hilfe dieser Befehlsübermittlungsstellen und mittels Weisungen im zensierten Jüdischen Wochenblatt die Evakuierung gelenkt werden" *  . Lages' comment "Ohne diesen Judenrat hätten wir es nie geschafft" was aimed at these evacuations, which was used as a veiled term for e.g. deportations in the memorandum *  .

From the on 13 February 1941 hastily assembled committee of twenty men, the Jewish Council grew to an organisation with dozens of departments and local and regional representatives all over the country. Chronicler of the persecution of Jews in the Netherlands, Jacques Presser, likened the Jewish Council to a ministry size wise, and called it "a swarming mess of people, functions, bureaus with matching paperwork". He spoke of a "rampant growth": early April 1943 the Jewish Council had eight thousand employees just for Amsterdam. Another 560 people were employed in the provinces Noord- and Zuid-Holland and Utrecht and big cities The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht. The big raids of May and June 1943 had an "altered bureau list" as a consequence. Mid July there were less than 1.100 employees and late August the Jewish Council only had 92 left *  .

Dissolution of the Jewish Council
Unwanted and unknowingly the Jewish Weekly announced the end of the Jewish Council with the announcement that the bureaus would be closed on 30 September and 1 October because of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah *  . On 29 May 1943 the last raids took place in Amsterdam where the last prominent members of the Jewish Council were taken to Westerbork from the Hollandsche Schouwburg *  . Even after Rosh Hashanah the offices of the Jewish Council stayed closed.