The Fouder of Krav-Maga: Imi Lichtenfeld

Imi Lichtenfeld (on the left side in the photo), was born in 1910 in Bratislava (city that became in 1920 the capital of Czechoslovakia).

His education was based in sports, law and medicine. His father, Samuel, was the chief of the local secret service and was known as the agent that jailed the greatest number of criminals. Beyond this, he was the instructor for immobilization techniques of the secret police.

With his father incentive, Imi practiced many different sports and between 1928 and 1929 he won many European championships of Olympic wrestling and in the same year he turned to be the world boxing champion.

On the next decade, Imi concentrated his training as an Olympic wrestler and instructor and won many medals in national and international competitions.

In the middle of the thirties the life in Bratislava was not the same anymore. Fascists groups gained room and changed the country life.

So then, Imi turned to be the leader of a resistance group that fought fascists. Between the years of 1936 and 1940, he participated in countless missions and violent confrontations, alone or in team.

Imi and his colleagues fought hundreds, thousands of enemies in a cruel and unequal war. All these happenings and personal living of Imi brought as consequence the strengthening of his body and spirit, preparing him for the happenings yet to come, and planted the seed that germinated, originating the Krav-Maga.

In 1940, Imi left his land, family and friends and boarded the last ship that ran away from the gars of the Nazis, nothing more than a simple raft, called "Pentcho". It was adapted to transport hundreds of people that left Europe to Israel.

The stories of this ship and his passengers became famous, and were told in the book "The Odyssey" of John Bierman. The Odyssey of Imi lasted 2 years, time in which he would often jump into the sea to save the lives of passengers or even a valorous bag of food in the frozen Danube River.

These "adventures" gave him a serious inflammation of the ear that left him nearly dead. After the explosion of the gas tank of the ship, along the coast of the Greek Islands, his help was asked for and after four days and nights of great effort Imi was taken in terrible health status to Alexandria, where he was subjected to many surgeries.

Recovered, he joined the Czechoslovakian army that fought by the British Army's side in the Middle-East, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. Then in 1942, he retired from the army and received permit to live in Israel, where a new chapter of his life started.

The arrival in the state of Israel represented for Imi another step in his life-path, without perceiving that this "small" step would be, nevertheless, his mark, as it has influenced and gave direction to all Jewish people's story in the state of Israeli. At this time, in the middle of 1942, there activated some freedom fighters that defended the people that dwelt in the region, mainly against the "Fedanin" attacks (gangs of Muslim criminals that stealed, kidnapped and killed with cruelty, not for need, but just for fun). This militia was grouped in three: Haganah, Hetzel and Lehi. Inside the Haganah, the greatest organization of the militias, Imi met some of his old colleagues and pupils from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They readily introduced Imi to the Haganah chief, Yitzhak Sadeh, which immediately put Imi as instructor of fitness, self-defense and face-to-face combat of his organization. Imi personally teached the Elite groups of Haganah and Palmah and others, such as "A.P.L.I.M.". Specially this last one was the base for the creation of the Elite groups of Israeli Defense Forces years after. With the creation of the Israeli State, Imi joined the "Tzahal" (I.D.F. - Israeli Defense Forces), and became the chief instructor of fitness and Krav-Maga.

He started teaching these in the army, then extended it for the school of fitness of all armed forces. In the 20 years that followed, Imi improved his special technique of self-defense and face-to-face combat. He personally trained the best warriors of the best Elite teams of the Israeli Armed Forces, people that, with his technique, ability and courage changed the destiny of operations and wars that were going to happen. Retired as an instructor of Tzahal, he adapted and customized the technique of Krav-Maga for the civilian people, making it efficient and accessible for each and every human being, man or woman, child or adult, strong or weak. To accomplish this, he opened two centers of training, one in Tel Aviv and other in Netanya.

In this process of "opening" for the civilian world, he selected a small group of his best students to be responsible for the Krav-Maga in the future. In 1978, he founded the Krav-Maga Association in Israel. Imi Lichtenfeld was, until his retirement, the counselor and adviser of the Israeli Defense Forces, and even in more advanced age gave instruction to the more graduated black-belts in Krav-Maga and was present in all seminars and meetings of Israel with practitioners from all over the world, personally supervising and transmitting his experiences, discoveries and the practical meaning of his creation, the Krav-Maga.

In an official letter of "merit award", the chief of Israeli Defense Forces wrote that in the age of Haganah and Palmah, including all years of Tzahal, the warship and personal capacity were the pillars of quality of the Israeli warrior, and there's no one more responsible for this result, for this conquest than Imi Lichtenfeld. The same letter states that the quality of Krav-Maga is the result of the human quality of Imi as it was structured on simplicity, objectivity, self-control, maximum security on practice and combat, honesty with and respect for the opponent, even when he is an enemy.

In a letter written by the Minister of Education and Culture, Zvulum Amer, is recognized the importance of preparation of the Israeli Youth to face the day-by-day violence and, for this reason, the Ministry of Education supports the effective teaching of Krav-Maga in school. The Ministry thanks Imi for the invention of so efficient technique with a blue and white merit award (award with the colors of the Israel flag).

The first Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, declared that the training to turn an Israeli soldier or commander able and the person Imi Lichtenfeld are synonyms, being these "two" one part in evidence of the success of the operations of Tzahal.