'Der Grosse Max'.
Born in Schönlinde, Nordböhmen in the current Czech Republic, Dieter Hanitzsch is a German caricaturist, journalist and author. Hanitzsch is a trained brewer from the TU München. He began his career working with an advertising agency. Between 1964 and 1985, he was a science journalist with the Bayerischen Rundfunk. In addition, he took on cartooning, mainly for Quick magazine between 1980 and 1992. He became a fulltime cartoonist in 1985 and contributed to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Berliner Morgenpost, Focus and Bonner General-Anzeiger.
For the ARD, Hanitzsch was an artist for the children's show 'Floris Zapp Zarapp' (1990-1994). Hanitzsch has illustrated all of Dieter Hildebrandt's books and together with the political editor Herbert Riehl-Heyse, he created the comic series 'Der grosse Max'. When Riehl-Heyse died in 2003, Hanitasch also took on the texts. This political comic, dealing with the adventures of fictional CSU parliamentary deputy Max Froschhammer, originally appeared in the weekend edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, but later became a cartoon film for the Bayerischen Rundfunk broadcast 'Abendschau'.
On 15 May 2018, Hanitzsch drew a controversial caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. It featured the politician on stage during the Eurovision Song Contest (won by Israeli singer Netta Barzilai that year), holding a bomb in his hand and announcing: "Next year in Jerusalem!". Some readers felt Netanyahu's portrayal was antisemitic, a claim held by German-Jewish social scientist Samuel Salzborn and historian Michael Wolffsohn, but disputed by historian Wolfgang Benz and Hanitzsch. Nevertheless, the Süddeutsche Zeituing made a public apology for the cartoon and fired Hanitzch on 4 June. Since then he draws editiorial cartoons for the Münchner Abendzeitung.
'Werner & Waldemar'. Translation: "My friend Werner is a nice guy, but terribly ambitious! Sometimes he overdoes it!".