In February 1941 the Germans ordered the creation of the Jewish Council as a Jewish organization that had to lead the Jewish community in the Netherlands. In addition to Abraham Asscher, the Chief Rabbi of the Hoogduitse-Israelitische [Ashkenazi] community, David Cohen took office as joint-chairman. This council was established as the “Jewish Council for Amsterdam”, but it was soon authorized to lead all Jews in the Netherlands. Through the Jewish Council the occupier issued commands to the Jewish community and its leaders, so that the council became a conduit for the anti-Jewish regulations. In September of 1943, the directors of the Jewish Council were sent to Westerbork and in this way the Council’s existence came to a de facto end.

In May 1942, all officers of the military police received a letter in which they were ordered to report for a check. This was a trap for all the officers were arrested and taken to a German POW camp. Shortly afterwards there was a wave of discharges throughout the country. Police officers who were assumed to be hostile towards Germany were dismissed and were likely to be considered for forced labor in Germany. This made most police officers quite afraid.