Imi Lichtenfeld

Quick Facts

Date of Birth5/26/1910

Date of Death1/9/1998

Country of OriginIsrael

OccupationSoldier

Also known asImrich Lichtenfeld, Imi Sde-Or

Biography

Imi Lichtenfeld, whose birth name was Imrich, was born on 26 May 1910 in Budapest into a Jewish family and grew up in Bratislava. He is the founder of Krav Maga, which he first taught in the Israeli armed forces and which from 1964 he also adapted for civilians. Some sources, among them the IKMF, give Bratislava as the place of birth.

His father Samuel was a police inspector in Bratislava, formerly a circus acrobat and strongman, and owned the Hercules gym. Imi competed in wrestling, boxing and gymnastics. According to the Israeli association K.A.M.I., he won the Slovak youth wrestling championship in 1928, and in 1929 the Slovak boxing title and the international title in competitive gymnastics, while Slovak Spectator speaks of Czechoslovak titles. In the nineteen-thirties, according to sources, he founded with friends from Betar a group that defended the Jewish quarter against violent attacks.

On 18 May 1940 he sailed from Bratislava down the Danube on the ship Pentcho, which was wrecked in the Aegean Sea in October 1940. He then served for about a year in a Czechoslovak unit under British command, according to Wikipedia in the 11th Czechoslovak Infantry Battalion. According to K.A.M.I. he reached Palestine in 1942, while other sources give 1944. Yitzhak Sadeh summoned him into the Haganah, where he taught physical training, swimming and knife defense. After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 he became chief instructor of physical training and Krav Maga in the Israeli army.

In 1964 he left the army and opened a private training center in Netanya. He awarded the first black belt in Krav Maga on 1 May 1971 to Eli Avikzar. In 1978 he founded with his students the Krav Maga association, and Wikipedia gives the exact date of 22 October. The international federation IKMF states that it has operated since 1996, while Wikipedia places its founding in 1995. He died on 9 January 1998 in Netanya at the age of 87.

Early life

Imi, whose birth name was Imrich, was born on 26 May 1910 in Budapest to the parents Samuel and Janka Lichtenfeld. According to Slovak Spectator his father came from Mliečno, today part of Šamorín, and his mother from Bátorove Kosihy. The family moved to Bratislava, where Imi grew up. His father was a police inspector, formerly a circus acrobat and strongman, and owned the Hercules gym, where he also taught self-defense.

In 1935 he traveled with a team of Jewish wrestlers to the Maccabiah in Palestine, but because of a broken rib from training he did not compete, according to Wikipedia and the blog of Patrick Comerford. On 18 May 1940 he left Bratislava on the river ship Pentcho with about five hundred mostly Betar passengers. The ship was wrecked in the Aegean Sea in October 1940. According to a genealogical record, Imi set out with four others in a rowing boat to get help on Crete, and after five days they were rescued by a British warship, while the version of David Kahn gives three days and a British aircraft.

Training and teachers

Imi trained wrestling, boxing and gymnastics, and according to K.A.M.I. his father brought him to sport. In 1928 he won the Slovak youth wrestling championship, and in 1929 the Slovak boxing title and the international title in competitive gymnastics. Slovak Spectator writes of a Czechoslovak junior title from 1928 and an adult one from 1929. Comerford lists him as a member of the Slovak national wrestling team, but another source does not confirm this. We have not found the names of his trainers in the sources.

After the wreck of the Pentcho he served for about a year in a Czechoslovak unit under British command in Egypt, Libya and Syria and then received permission to enter Palestine. According to K.A.M.I. he arrived there in 1942, and Yitzhak Sadeh, the commander of the Palmach, summoned him into the Haganah.

Contribution and innovations

By 1944 he was already teaching physical training, swimming, knife defense and close-quarters stick fighting in the Haganah. The IKMF and Krav Maga Global list among the units he trained the Haganah, Palmach and Palyam. After the founding of Israel in 1948 he became chief instructor of physical training and Krav Maga in the army. He developed defenses against knives and firearms, added grips from jiu-jitsu and, according to K.A.M.I., simplified the exercises so that a soldier could master them after short practice. He taught in the army until 1964, that is about sixteen years, while the IKMF gives twenty years.

In 1964 he opened a private center for Krav Maga, jiu-jitsu and gymnastics in Netanya and adapted the system for civilians. He awarded the first black belt on 1 May 1971 to Eli Avikzar, who had trained with him since November 1964, and in the years 1973 to 1980 to a further group of students. In 1978 he founded with his students an association for spreading Krav Maga. Eyal Yanilov studied with him from 1974 and from 1984 wrote a comprehensive manual with him.

Philosophy and principles

The Israeli association K.A.M.I., founded by his first black belt Eli Avikzar, gives as the guiding principles of Imi the shortest and fastest way to the goal and avoiding injury. Both formulations are passed on by the institution of his student, and we have not found a book or a date when Imi said them. We infer that his emphasis on simplicity is also connected with them: the exercises were to be mastered by a soldier after short training, not after years of training.

Legends and documented facts

It is often written that Imi fought the Nazis in Bratislava and that Krav Maga arose to fight them. A source at the level of official institutions does not document this. What is documented is that in the nineteen-thirties he founded with friends from Betar a group that defended the Jewish quarter, according to Comerford in 1938 with David Unreich. The sources do not say what techniques he used there, so we believe that street experience was only one of the roots of the system.

The origin of Krav Maga is placed in different ways: in the nineteen-thirties, in teaching in the Haganah from 1944, or in the army after 1948. Teaching in the Haganah from 1944 is documented. Sources also differ on the year of arrival in Palestine (1942 and 1944) and on the place of birth (Budapest and Bratislava). Slovak Spectator writes that Imi joined the circus, while a genealogical record attributes this to his father.

Legacy

After 1974 Eli Avikzar took over the Netanya center, and in 1989 he founded the association K.A.M.I. with the blessing of Imi. The international federation IKMF arose after disputes among the leading instructors of the original association, Imi approved its curriculum, and it states that it has operated since 1996. Eyal Yanilov was chief instructor of the IKMF until 2010, when he founded Krav Maga Global. Krav Maga is thus taught today in a number of organizations that refer to Imi.

In June 2018 a memorial plaque was unveiled at Židovská Street 1 in Bratislava, initiated by his student Yaron Lichtenstein, and a statue of him by Šimon Chyla also stands in Bratislava. Imi died on 9 January 1998 in Netanya and, according to Wikipedia, is buried in the Shikun Vatikim cemetery.

Associated Martial Arts

Organisations

• ISRAIsraeli Krav Maga AssociationFounder · 1978
• IKMFInternational Krav Maga Federation↗Founder · 1995

Quotes