The Jewish Council (Season 1)

The Jewish Council (De Joodse Raad, 2024) is a Dutch historical drama you can watch online on iFILM. It unfolds in Amsterdam under German occupation, where the so-called Council was set up as a buffer between the occupiers and the Jewish community — with David Cohen serving as one of its co-chairs.

Cohen is convinced that negotiating, conceding and buying time is the only way to save anyone at all. His daughter Virrie reads the same danger differently: to her, cooperation just lets the deportation machine run more quietly. The gap between father and daughter keeps widening, and every argument they have is really an argument about the price of compromise, when each choice costs someone their life. Pierre Bokma takes the lead, with Paula van der Oest directing.

The series refuses to sort its characters into saints and traitors. Instead it studies what happens to a decent man handed the power to manage other people's lists. It's a heavy but honest watch for anyone drawn to European wartime cinema told without battle scenes. Stream The Jewish Council online on iFILM.