Imre ("Imi") Lichtenfeld (1910 – January 9, 1998) was the founder of the self-defense system Krav Maga. He is also known by the Hebrew calque of his name, Imi Sde-Or.
Imre was born to a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and grew up in Pozsony (now Bratislava). His father, Samuel Lichtenfeld, was a chief inspector on the Bratislava police force and a former circus acrobat. Imi trained at the Hercules Gym, which was...
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Imre ("Imi") Lichtenfeld (1910 – January 9, 1998) was the founder of the self-defense system Krav Maga. He is also known by the Hebrew calque of his name, Imi Sde-Or.
Imre was born to a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and grew up in Pozsony (now Bratislava). His father, Samuel Lichtenfeld, was a chief inspector on the Bratislava police force and a former circus acrobat. Imi trained at the Hercules Gym, which was owned by his father Samuel who taught self-defense. As a young man, Imi was a successful boxer and wrestler. Imi 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 neighborhood against fascist gangs. He quickly realised that sport has little in common with real combat and began developing a system of...
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