History of Krav Maga

When Imi Lichtenfeld, the creator of Krav Maga was given the task of creating a fighting system for the fledgling IDF he studied how soldiers reacted under intense stress and pressure. Having studied people's instinctive reactions under pressure to various forms of attack he then amplified those natural movements and so created Krav Maga, over half a century ago. Since then Krav Maga has been adopted by the like of the FBI, The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Beverley Hills PD - in fact more than 60 agencies in the USA alone - as well as the Finnish Paratroopers to name but a few.

"It is our belief", he said, "that everybody, no matter what age, weight, gender or body type, has the right to defend themselves and their loved ones..."

The lethal nature of the system simulates real-life situations. It teaches how to save lives and to cope with violence. As a result, it cannot include rules and limitations. Neither can it have sporting competitions and remain a realistic fighting system.

Imi Lichtenfeld

Lichtenfeld was born on May 26, 1910 to a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. His father, Samuel Lichtenfeld, was a chief inspector on the Bratislava police force and a former circus acrobat. Lichtenfeld trained at the Hercules Gymnasium, which was owned by his father, who taught self-defence. As a young man, Lichtenfeld was a successful boxer and wrestler. He competed at national and international levels and was a champion and member of the Slovakian National Wrestling Team

In the late 1930s, anti-Semitic riots threatened the Jewish population of Bratislava. Together with other Jewish boxers and wrestlers, Lichtenfeld helped to defend his Jewish neighbourhood against racist gangs. He quickly realised that sport has little in common with real combat and began developing a system of techniques for practical self-defence in life threatening situations.

In 1935, Lichtenfeld visited Palestine with a team of Jewish wrestlers to participate in the Maccabi games but could not participate because of a broken rib that resulted from his training while on route. This led to the fundamental Krav Maga precept, 'do not get hurt' while training. Lichtenfeld returned to Czechoslovakia to face increasing anti-Semitic violence. Lichtenfeld organised a group of young Jews to protect his community. On the streets, he acquired hard won experience and the crucial understanding of the differences between sport fighting and street fighting. He developed his fundamental self-defence principle: 'use natural movements and reactions' for defence, combined with an immediate and decisive counterattack. From this evolved the refined theory of 'simultaneous defence and attack' while 'never occupying two hands in the same defensive movement.'

In 1940, Lichtenfeld fled the Nazi occupation of his homeland, heading for Palestine on the Aliyah Bet vessel, Pencho, which shipwrecked on the Greek Dodecanese Islands. He arrived in Israel in 1942 after serving with great notoriety in the Czech Legion. Israel's early leaders immediately recognised Lichtenfeld's fighting prowess and ingenuity. He began to train Israel's first fighting units the Palmach, Palyam, and Haganah in military close quarters combat. This training included fighting fitness, bayonet tactics, sentry removal, knife fighting, stave/stick fighting, and any other military-oriented problems that required a creative solution. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, he became the Chief Instructor of Physical Training in the Israel Defence Forces. It was during this time that his system came to be called Krav Maga.

In 1944 Lichtenfeld began training fighters in his areas of expertise: physical fitness, swimming, wrestling, use of the knife and defences against knife attacks. During this period, he trained several elite units of the Hagana and Palmach (striking force of the Hagana and forerunner of the special units of the IDF), including the Pal-Yam, as well as groups of police officers.

In 1964, Lichtenfeld retired from the Israeli military. He then modified Krav Maga to fit the needs of police forces and ordinary civilians. He trained teams of Krav Maga instructors, who were accredited by him and the Israeli Ministry of Education. He also created the Israeli Krav Maga Association in 1978. On January 9, 1998, Lichtenfeld died in Netanya, Israel, at the age of 87.