Each semester, Dr. Peter Böhm teaches an elective course highlighting German culture. These highlighted electives cover an array of topics, ranging from literature to film. An alumnus of the college, Jonathan Beck, designs the poster for each of these courses.
GER 441 - The Young Generation and Civil Courage - 1848 to today
A detailed look at Germany's young generation between revolutionary and nationalistic attitudes, between resistance to and acceptance of the body politic: 1848 - 1871 - 1914 - 1939 - 1945 - 1968 - 1989
GER 443 - Pioneers, Paragons, and Visionaries
A close look at 50 Germans of importance whose significance is barely known but without whose impact on the world our lives today and our future lives would be less rich.
GER 453 - German Literature after 1945
A thorough inquiry into aspects of literary life in both parts of Germany before and after 1990. Reflection on the attempts by East and West German authors to distance themselves from and cope with the experience of the literature of the NAZI era.
GER 457 - German Theater: From its Beginnings to Today
A thorough study of German Theatre between the 16th and the 21st centuries - between religious drama and bourgeois theatre, between "nation" and "self", between search for and loss of one's identity.
GER 463 - 1989 - The Fall of the Berlin Wall in the European Context
An examination of the events which led to the demise of communism in Eastern Central Europe during the late 1980's, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. Movements in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic will be studied.
GER 467 - Germany since 1871
Political System and Form of Government A close look at the seven forms of government Germany experienced since her first unification: Monarchy (1871-1918), Weimar democracy (1918-1933), national socialism (1933-1945), under occupation (1945-1949), Western democracy (1949-1989), communism (1949-1989), and federation (1990-today).
GER 473 - German Literature and Film
Study of six literary epochs through literature and film, stretching from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Comparison and critical analysis of prose and its adaptation in (German and foreign) film.
GER 475 - The History of German Film since Weimar
A close look at the cinema of Weimar (UFA), cinema as propaganda machine under Hitler, West-Germany's cinema of restoration and the manifesto of Oberhausen; East-Germany's multi-faceted DEFA film-making, and the trends of post-unification cinema within Europe.
Jonathan Beck
A native of Buffalo, NY, Jonathan Beck is an alumnus of Canisius University and a former Fulbright Fellow to Germany. After his Fulbright year at Eberhard Karl Universität Tübingen in 2013/14, Jonathan Beck enrolled in the Ph.D. program in political science at the University of Washington, where he is also a graduate fellow in the Comparative Law & Society Studies (CLASS) Center. His academic interests include comparative law and courts, the European integration, and legal mobilization; Jonathan Beck is interested in the ways that social actors use law and access courts at the domestic and international levels (especially the European Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rights).
Photography and graphic design have been hobbies of his since high school. While at Canisius, Jonathan Beck held a work study position at the music office, and took on the responsibility of designing a good number of posters for ArtsCanisius events. Today, he is still creating posters for events at the University of Washington and for the German program at Canisius.