Imrich Lichtenfeld

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The black belts Imi Lichtenfeld and Yaron Lichtenstein face each other in white combat suits
Imrich Lichtenfeld (left)

Imrich "Imi" Lichtenfeld , later Imi Sde-Or, (born on 26. May 1910 in Budapest , died on 9. January 1998 in Netanya , Israel) was the founder of the self-defense system Krav Maga .

Life

Childhood and youth

Imi Lichtenfeld was born on May 26, 1910 in Budapest (then Austria-Hungary ) and grew up in Bratislava ( Slovakia ). His father, Samuel Lichtenfeld, had been part of a traveling circus; There he practiced wrestling, weightlifting and other strength exercises for 20 years and learned combat and self-defense techniques. After his time at the circus he founded the heavy athletics club Hercules in Bratislava. He later became the chief inspector of the city police. Imi Lichtenfeld received various sports lessons from his father; he also took part in his classes in self-defense and combat for police officers.

Sports career

Imi Lichtenfeld won in the 1920s and 1930s, many national and international competitions in various disciplines, including several times the Slovak championship rings and the Slovak box championship and an international gymnastics competition. He was considered one of the best wrestlers in Europe. In the 1930s Lichtenfeld also trained others in wrestling and gymnastics. He took part in ballet performances.

Anti-Jewish pogroms in Bratislava

In the mid-1930s, pogroms against Jews increased in Bratislava. Lichtenfeld joined forces with other young Jews to form a protection force for the Jewish population of Bratislava, of which he could be regarded as leader. In the street battles with anti-Semitic attackers, Lichtenfeld gained experience in real hand-to-hand combat, which was fundamental for the development of the Krav Maga self-defense system (Hebrew for "contact combat").

Second World War

In 1940 Lichtenfeld began his flight to Palestine on the paddle steamer Pentcho , where he nearly died of an ear infection. After a boiler exploded, the Pentcho was aground in the Aegean Sea . Lichtenfeld and others tried to get to Crete in a rowboat to request help. Driven off course by the wind, they were picked up by an English warship and taken to Alexandria . There they cured Lichtenfeld's ear infection, whereupon he joined the Czechoslovak Legion under the command of the British Army .

Israel Defense Forces

After about a year and a half of military service, he was allowed to enter Palestine in 1942. There he Hebrew his last name in Sde-Or. He joined the underground organization Hagana , whose fighters he taught physical fitness, swimming and hand-to-hand combat with knives. After the establishment of the Israeli state , Lichtenfeld became chief instructor for physical fitness and Krav Maga at the military combat school of the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) in 1948 . During his 20 years at the IDF, he continued to develop his teaching of Krav Maga.

Krav Maga for civilians

While continuing to work as a consultant and Krav Maga instructor for the IDF and other Israeli security forces, after serving in the military he turned his attention to adapting Krav Maga to the needs of civilians.

In 1978 he founded the Israeli Krav Maga Association with some students , of which he remained president until the end of his life. At his request, founded Eyal Yanilov and other of his students in 1996, the International Krav Maga Federation , to promote the worldwide spread of Krav Maga.

Imi Lichtenfeld died on January 9, 1998 at the age of 87. He was buried in his hometown of Netanya .

Fonts

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b The Founder Of Krav Maga Imrich (Imi) Sde-Or. International Krav Maga Federation, December 2, 2013, accessed June 17, 2017 .
  2. ↑ The biography presented here is based on Imi Sde-Or, Eyal Yanilov: Krav Maga. Defense against armed attacks. Weinmann-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-87892-074-1 , pp. 223-227.
  3. ↑ On the history of the Pentcho: John Bierman : Odyssey . Ullstein Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-550-07195-7 .
  4. ↑ Renee Ghert-Zand: Krav Maga pilgrims take down Brazil's anti-Israel bias. In: The Times of Israel . February 5, 2015, accessed June 20, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Lichtenfeld, Imrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lichtenfeld, Imi; Sde-Or, Imi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli founder of the Krav Maga self-defense system
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1998
Place of death Netanya , Israel