The Founder Imi Sde Or (Lichtenfeldt) 1910 - 1998
Foreword
Few combat systems have a history as rich and quite literally, as epic as that of Krav Maga. If you are interested in the development of both the founder and the system I sincerely hope your time wont be wasted here. But, here is the catch. We have written this page in much the same way as a book. Its text rich, image poor and requires several minutes to read.
As a result we have broken several of the usual web conventions. Firstly, we have assumed the reader is actually interested in content rather than eye catching graphics. Secondly we assumed the reader has an attention span somewhat larger than a goldfish (an unusual practice in web design). This seems to have worked fairly well resulting in almost 40 000 readers in the first month each spending an average of almost 7 minutes on this page. This is highly unusual for a web page. So if you are still reading, it is to you this page is dedicated. Thank you.
Paul Grey
The Krav Maga Training Centre - Bristol
Krav Maga the International Phenomena..
Krav Maga is a generic Hebrew term relating to the practice of hand to hand combat. More specifically the Israeli approach to hand to hand combat as a form of survival training rather than as martial arts training. The Krav Maga system became an international phenomena in the 1990's as a result of work done by 2 men. Darren Levene and his American Krav Maga World Wide organisation (Now know as Krav Maga Worldwide) and Eyal Yanilov who tirelessly promotes the system and attempts to maintain quality within it. These men are by no means the only senior instructors of Krav Maga, but in terms of shaping the general image of krav Maga and popularising the system; these 2 men are certainly most visable internationally. Other figures have spear headed Krav Maga's advancement internationally are David Kahn, Gilles Hussain and Richard Dioueb. All are highly credible martial artists who again have attempted to honestly promote the system internationally.
Krav Maga became so popular that in the early 2000's various people and whole systems cropped up claiming to teach Krav Maga. One notable individuals even claimed to have co-founded the system. (See commando Krav Maga Sucks), many of who had no qualifications to do so. The mere use of the magic term Krav Maga was enough to generate money.
Since then it has expanded across the world, becoming famous as the system that turns civilians into soldiers in the worlds most battle tested Military Force - the Israel Defence force. The system has become so well known several offshoots have emerged, one even claiming to have co-founded the system on behalf of the IDF (Moni Aizik).
The real story behind Krav Maga is literally epic and beyond the remit of a single web page. However we have highlighted some aspects of the story of the founder and his life. Read on...
The Origins of Krav Maga
Samuel Lichtenfeldt leading a procession of Jewish Wrestlers at a parade. A young Imi is in front wearing a medal.
From a young age his Imi’s father, Samuel, exposed him to boxing, wrestling and gymnastics. Samuel Lichtenfeldt was a very interesting figure who joined a travelling circus at only 13 years old. Samuel spent the next 20 years with the circus specialised in Boxing, wrestling and feats of strength. Samuel eventually left the circus and joined the Police where later he became Chief of Police.
During his time with the Police Samuel became famous as the man who captured the most violent criminals and murderers. Samuel taught various arrest techniques to his fellow Police officers and emphasised high moral standards in his Policemen. While serving Samuel taught a range of techniques that today seem mild and not overly effective, but which would have been in keeping with expectations and needs of the time.
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We managed to source several rare images of Samuel teaching Arrest techniques. Bear in mind that there were no approved techniques and that these early attempts were probably not very effective. It is interesting none the less.
Samuel went on to open one of Europe’s first gyms (Hercules) and taught the local police force restraint techniques. Imi's early exposure to sports and training set the scene later in his life to develop the hand-to-hand and conditioning skills of the IDF (Israel Defence Force).
Imi (2nd left) as part of the Slovakian National Team
Under his fathers watchfull eye Imi learned Boxing, Wrestling, Gymnastics and Swimming. Imis' excelled in wrestling where in 1928 he went on to win the Slovakian National Youth Wrestling Championship. In 1929 Imi went on to win the Slovakian Wrestling Championship as an adult at Welter weight. In that same year Imi also won the Slovakian National Boxing championship and an International gymnastics Championship. Imi became a mainstay of the Slovakian national Wrestling scene as a trainer and competitor and dominated the welter weight wrestling scene in Slovakia and Europe for a decade.
1936 and on
Events in Nuremburg, Germany began to effect Imis' life. The Nuremburg laws declared Jewish peoples an inferior race who were not afforded state protection. In otherwords the jewish population lost all legal rights and entitlements. If they were attacked, raped, robbed or murdered they had no leal rights. Any citizen could treat any Jew as they wish with no legal consequences.
From 1936 the facist led persecution of jews really esculated. After mounting exposure to the Nazi street attacks Imi became involved in the street fighting against the local "Storm troopers". The so called gangs of young facists who brutalised the Jewish community. Imi and his companions fought to keep the facists out of the jewish areas. Brutal gang fights followed using clubs, bottles knives or anything else to available in the environment, including the occasional firearm.
These conflicts were intense and dangerous leading to many deaths on either side. This type of violence was the proving ground for Imi learning the stark difference between the Boxing and Wrestling matches of his youth and the life or death nature of antisemitic violence. Imi later refined these experiences to form the concepts used in the development of Krav Maga.
Imi at 29 years of age shortly before fleeing Europe
Imi and his activities eventually came to the attention of the authorities and it was only a matter of time for him now. As a marked man Imi had to leave his native country for what was then called Palestine, (now Israel).
The Pentcho - The last Boat to successfully escape from Nazi occupied Central Europe
With the Nazi crissis errupting, a decrepit old River steamer called the Stefano was purchased from its Greek owners. The Stefano was moored on Bralia, Romania and was ready for the scrapping. It was an elderly River boat with side mounted steam paddles and a very old design.
The Jewish agents purchasing the vessel registered it under the Bulgarian flag and renamed it Pentcho. The ship was in such poor condition that numerous officials had to be bribed to allow the vessel to comply with various rules as it was not fit to pass any sea worthiness examination. Jewish migrants from all across Europe had gathered in Bratislavia and were attempting to flee the numerous nazi round ups.
On May 18th 1940 The Pentcho set sail on its perilous journey. The captain of the pentcho carried forged papers stating that all its passangers were Romanian citizens bound for Paraguay. The vessle was so overloaded with passengers the majority had to remain below decks for fear of capsizing the vessel. The passage of the Pentcho has inspired at least 2 books, and is a testiment to the courage and fortitude of the 400-500 people on board.
Due to overcrowding - several passengers and food packages fell over board. Imi the accomplished swimmer had on several occassions dived overboard to retrieve the food or passengers. Imi eventually contracted a severe ear infection, which with no medical treatment available, this nearly killed him.
Later on the vouyage the ship became grounded near an Island called Kamilisi. Imi and several other took a small rowboat and attempted to row to Crete to get help. The boat became lost but luckily were found by a British Destroyer. Imi was admitted to a hospital and recieved several operations in an attempt to save his life. Medical staff had little hope for his survival but Imi later recovered and joined the Czech Legion seeing action across the middle east until 1942.
The Promised Land
Whilst in British Mandated Palestine Imi was introduced by friends to Yitzhak Sadeh, the head of the Haganah. He immediately recruited Imi as an instructor of face-to-face combat because of his widely respected fighting skills. In 1944, Imi began to lead troops in specialized physical fitness training, which included swimming, practical wrestling, and use of a knife and defense against knife techniques.
Between 1942 and 1948, Imi supervised the training of the special units of the Haganah, Pal'mach, Palyam, and of the police forces. This training was called at that time, Kapap - an acronym for krav panim l'panim or face-to-face combat.
In 1948 the state of Israel came into existence and was recognised by the United Nations. This event was the motivating force behind the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a series of armed conflicts between newly formed nation of Israel and its Arab neighbors, who rejected the UN proposition.
Ultimately, the region was divided among Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. The first Israeli Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, disbanded the paramilitary units in favor of a more cohesive military unit, the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF.
The Founding of Krav Maga 1948
Imi joined the newly founded Israeli army in 1948. Here Imi commencing a 15 year period of military service with the IDF. He began to build upon the foundation of fighting principles that were comprised of his boxing, wrestling, gymnastic, and military training. This new fighting style was termed Krav Maga, or contact combat.
As the head instructor of Krav Maga for the IDF, Imi had to sift through his own knowledge and experience, as well as the knowledge and experience of his soldiers, to expand the style with the most efficient methods of defence and offence possible. Imis' system of Krav Maga had to be fast to learn, simple to use and most importantly, effective for large groups of people with minimal training. In addition, the system had to be suitable for use in the worst possible situations such as when injured, unarmed or at close range with multiple armed attackers. The difficulty of providing this training and the experience and ingenuity required by Imi are hard to overstress.
Lack of resources, including firearms, meant that trainees were taught how to use clubs, knives and even rocks to defend themselves. Imi devised and taught techniques and principles that were easy to learn and easy to apply for new recruits. They also had to be learned in a short period of time and work, even under extreme pressure or disadvantage.
Over the next 15 years, Imi trained IDF soldiers and special forces operatives in what would become the Krav Maga system. Lichtenfeldts Krav Maga had developed into an aggressive combative style featuring elements of boxing, judo, and jujitsu as well as stick- and knife-fighting techniques. Krav Maga is still taught throughout the IDF to this day.
Imi performed this task so well, that today, over 60 years later, his system is the staple hand to hand system of the Israeli forces. Again to our knowledge no other combat system has been consistantly used bt any military force for over 60 years. Krav Maga has now been taught to Military and Law Enforcement agencies across the globe. Imi retired from the IDF in 1963 and continued to develop Krav Maga for the civilian sector
Imi teaching Knife defence
Development of Krav Maga for civilians
After retiring from active duty Imi continued to develop his fighting system for the general population. Again he looked to something that was fast to learn, easy to apply and could be learned in a short period of time. Due to Israel’s near-constant state of conflict with its neighbors, Krav Maga had been continually tested and evolving through years of real combat. To our knowledge this scale of continued combat testing and review of is unequalled in any other martial art or training system anywhere in the world.
The Krav Maga techniques developed for the battlefields of the Middle East could readily be taught to civilians as they were based around natural reactions, simple movements and aggressive defence principles. WIth huge numbers of soldiers being trained and using Krav Maga in real situations, Imi had an unparalled testing ground for what really worked in the heat of a life threatening attack.
So began the development of Krav Maga for civilians. The needs of civilians and soldiers differed markedly. Civilians typically had no weapon, no team or squad to back them up and could be old, young, ill or just plain unfit. Krav Maga had to work for this wide spectrum of abilities in a range of situations varying from mild aggression to life threatening situations.
As a system of self protection it had few rivals. It was fast to learn, easy to apply and had been proven to work again and again. Not surprisingly, Krav Maga became an international success.
Imi passed away in January 1998 aged 88 years.
Despite its aggressive no-holds-barred approach to self-defence, Krav Maga endorses a system of humanitarian values including personal integrity, non-violence, good citizenship, and humility in its practioners. It may be the gritty training methods, or tough no nonsense approach but Krav Maga does seem to attract really nice people.
His Legacy
Prior to his Imi's death, the Israeli Krav Maga Association with (Haim Gideon) was probably the largest Krav Maga Organisation. After some Friction, (reasons unknown), Eyal Yanilov went on to establish the International Krav Maga Federation in 1978 with Imi's blessing. Imi also helped Darren Levene set up the Krav Maga Association of America in the early 1983.
Eyal Yanilov's IKMF remained on good terms with Darren Levene's Krav Maga Association of America untill a legal dispute occured leading to a falling out of the organisations. Both organisations had a large international presence and were widely featured in the press, multimedia and magazine coverage.
In Europe several smaller organisations have been started by some of imi's former students, or students of Imis original students. Interestingly techniques and principles of the various organisations remain remarkablty consistant. The primarily differences between the various Krav Maga factions appear based around political, financial or personal issues rather than other significant difference. Instructors from the main organisations teach very simmilar technique, near identical principles but may have different views on technical application.
Krav Maga Offshoots
A range of copy cat systems have emerged internationally. Each one hoping to capitalise on the success of Krav Maga. Krav Maga has developed such a good reputation that many off shoots are marketed soley on their association with, or criticisms of Krav Maga.
Probably the most notorious copy cat system is Commando Krav Maga. Founded by Judo Instructor Moni Aizik, Aizik has become infamous for his numerous claims and war stories.
C.K.M became notorious after Aizik made a range of implausible claims about co-founding the Krav Maga system. Embarassingly, it later emerged that Aizik had no Krav Maga certification or teaching experience and was not the 'Special Forces' Commando he claimed to be. Further revelations emerged. So much so, that we dedicated a whole page to the antics of this individual. See Commando Krav Maga Sucks Among his less well thought out claims was that Aizik co-founded Krav Maga with IMI. Unfortunatly Aizik had not realised that to have revamped the IDF hand to hand system as claimed, he would have only been 9 or 10 years old at the most ;-) A great story though. Needless to say, Aiziks various claims are ridiculed by the Krav Maga Organisations, the IDF and the Counter Terror trainers.
The future of Krav Maga
The future of Krav Maga in the UK appears bright. There is a real public hunger for good quality, proven self protection training. An this is where Krav Maga excels. The major organisations (IMKA, IKMF, KMWW, FEKM) have a keen eye to the standards of Krav Maga and the standards of its instructors. This approach and a focus on quality training of students and instructors is vital to maintain the systems standing as a high quality 'product'.
However just like the commercial sector, 'Piracy" or immitation is a huge potential problem. With increasing public demand for Krav Maga comes a range of individuals keen to part the public and their money. In short, the real money is to be made is in teaching instructors. Some individuals, keen to cash in on the systems reputation declare themselves a trainer of instructors - typically via highly profitable short certifications. The results are poor instructor training, a lack of quality control and poor standards of Krav Maga taught. In some cases these individuals are not even Krav Maga Instructors. A case on point in again Commando Krav Maga.
We hope that continued exposure to quality Krav Maga via organisations the larger International Organisations will raise public awareness of real Krav Maga and make them aware of the work of Imi and the authentic Krav Maga system.
Finding a good Krav Maga Instructor
Anyone can claim to be a Krav Maga Instructor. The title is not legally protected and many have cynically cashed in on Krav Maga's reputation with assorted special forces and commando claims.
The safest way to find a genuine instructor is to approach one of the larger, credible organisations. The larger organisations are;
- Krav Maga Worldwide.
- F.E.K.M
- IKMF
- IKMA
- British Krav Maga Association
There may be other organisations but these are the larger credible groups I am aware of.
What to look for
Krav Maga Instructors are relaitvley rare. If you are serious about Krav Maga and live outside of a major town or city you will probably have to travel.
- An instructor affiliated to a major organisation
- An instructor interested in you and who offers a free taster or trial lesson
- Signs of a structured and planned class. Without this it will be difficult to progress after a few months.This is a classic sign of poor or unprofessional instruction.
- A clear and detailed curriculum.
- Long term students. No students training more than a 6 months? Then look elsewhere.
- Safe professional training. You are paying, so expect professional standards.
- Respect. A good instructor will treat all students professionally and with respect. This includes respecting your limits, beliefs and most importanatly your safety.
Every UK based Instructor should have
- Insurance of at very least £2 000 000. £5 000 000 is the usual standard
- A first aid certificate thats up to date
- A Criminal Record Bureau check within the last 3 years
- Some credible and verifiable form of coaching or Instructor Training
What to avoid
- Unaffiliated instructors. Standards are always higher in those belonging to and assessed by a credible organisation.
- Commando Krav Maga. Its a 3 day course and nothing to do with Krav Maga or the military - despite its claims.
- Generally (there are exceptions) avoid those claiming to teach 'special forces' or simmilar.
- Macho instructors trying to convince you how tough they are - how there krav is the best etc
If you are based in the south west of England and fancy trying Krav Maga come and see us.
Paul Grey
The Krav Maga Training Centre
"So that one may walk in peace"
