Imi Lichtenfeld (Z"L)

Born in 26 of may of 1910 in Budapest, which was located at the center of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Imi was raised in Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia.

His family 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 who caught the most criminals. Besides this, he was also an instructor for grappling techniques in the secret police.

With his fathers incentive, Imi practiced many different sports. Between 1928 and 1929, he won many European wrestling championships and in that year he became a boxing champion.

In the following decade, Imi focused his training as a wrestling athlete and instructor, winning many medals in national and international competitions. Ever since the mid-thirties, life in Bratislava was not the same anymore. Fascist groups slowly won political ground, therefore, changing the life in that country. Imi then became the leader of a resistance group that fought the Fascists groups. Between the years of 1936 and 1940, he participated in countless missions and violent confrontations, being alone or in a team. Imi and his colleagues fought hundreds, thousands of enemies in a cruel and unfair war. All of these events and personal experiences resulted in the strengthening of his body and spirit, preparing him for the events yet to come, and planting the seeds that germinated, resulting in the creation of Krav Maga.

In 1940, Imi left his homeland, his family and friends and boarded the last ship that managed to flee from the Nazis. It was nothing more than a simple raft, called "Pentcho", which was adapted to transport hundreds of people who left Europe with Israel as their final destination. The stories of this raft and its passengers became famous, and were described in the book "The Odyssey", written by John Borman. The Odyssey of Imi lasted 2 years, during which, in many occasions, he jumped in the water to save the lives of passengers or a valuable bag of food in the frozen Danube River. These "adventures" gave him a strong ear infection that almost led him to death. After an explosion at the gas tank of the ship, which happened near the coast of the Greek Islands, his help was requested. After four days and nights of great effort, Imi was taken in a terrible health condition to Alexandria, where he underwent many surgeries.

Recovered, he joined the Czech Army that fought together with the British Army. And it was in this way that he fought in the middle-east, in combats in Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. In the year of 1942, he then retired from the army and received a license to live in Israel, where a new phase of his life would begin.

His arrival in the State of Israel meant for Imi only one more step in his path. But without him noticing, this "small" step would be a landmark that would influence and guide the story of the Jews in the State of Israel. Already at this time, in mid-1942, there were defense movements, based in three groups: Haganah, Hetzel and Lehi. They fought to assure the survival of the people in that region, mostly against the "Fedanin" attacks, which were gangs of Muslim criminals who pillaged, kidnapped and killed with cruelty, not for need, but just for fun. In the Haganah defense group, which was the largest organization among the three, Imi met some of his old colleagues and pupils from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They readily introduced Imi to the Haganah chief, Yitzhak Sadeh, who immediately appointed Imi as the one responsible for physical conditioning, self-defense and the training of face-to-face combat in his organization.

Imi privately taught the elite groups of Haganah and Palmah, and among these the "P.A.L.I.A.M.". This last one, years later, became the base for the creation of the elite groups of Israeli Armed Forces.

With the creation of the State of Israel, Imi joined the "Tzahal" and became the head instructor of physical conditioning and Krav Maga. This work began only in the army, and later spread to the school of physical conditioning of all the Armed Forces. During the following 20 years, Imi improved his special technique of self-defense and face-to-face combat. He personally trained the best warriors of the top elite teams of the Israeli Armed Forces. These were people that with technique, aptitude and courage, changed the destiny of operations and wars that would happen there. Retired as an instructor of Tzahal, he adapted and customized the Krav Maga technique for the civilian world, making it efficient and accessible to any human being, the strong or the weak, man or woman, young or old. For this purpose, he opened two training centers, one in Tel Aviv and the other in Netanya. In this "opening" process to 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 last days, an advisor and counselor of the Israeli Defense Forces. Besides that, he also trained the more experienced black-belts in Krav Maga and was always present at meetings and seminars with people from all around the world in Israel. He supervised and personally transmitted his experiences, discoveries and the practical meaning of his creation: Krav Maga.

In a "Merit Award" official letter, the chief of Israeli Defense Forces wrote that ever since the time of Haganah and Palmah, including all years of Tzahal, the capacity to fight and Imis personal potential were the pillars of quality of the Israeli warrior, and there wasnt anyone more accountable for this result, for this conquest than Imi Lichtenfeld. This letter also states that the quality of Krav Maga is a result of the humanitarian values of Imi, which are structured on simplicity, objectivity, self-control, maximum security in training and combat, honesty and respect with the opponent, even when he is an enemy.

In a letter written by the Minister of Education and Culture, Zvulum Amer, he recognizes the importance of the preparation of the Israeli youth to face daily violence. For this reason, the Ministry of Education supports the teaching of Krav Maga in all schools. The Ministry then thanks Imi for the creation of such an effective technique with a blue and white merit award. Blue and white is a term used for those who honor their country, for they are the colors of the Israeli flag.

The Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Z''L) declared in a letter that Imi Lichtenfeld is the synonym of turning an Israeli soldier or commander able. And both are evidence of the Tzahals operations success.

To the grief of the entire Krav Maga Family, Imi Lichtenfeld passed away in 9 of January of 1998.