The Krav Maga history starts with one man, named Imrich Lichtenfeld, also called Imi.
Imrich Lichtenfeld
The founder, Imi, was born in Hungary in 1910. Imi’s father Samuel owned a modern gym, was into wrestling and boxing, and served as a detective on the police force. Through his father’s influence, Imi began an incredibly active lifestyle that would lay the foundation for Krav Maga. Spending his time lifting weights, boxing, and wrestling, Imi began to make a name for himself. Throughout most of the 1930’s, he was one of the most infamous wrestlers in Europe.
Germany’s rise to power saw the instatement of the Nuremburg Laws, at which point Jews found persecution becoming a way of life. Some Jewish men of the time, Imi included, attempted to defend the Jewish communities from anti-Semitic assaults. He found himself developing techniques that worked consistently, and began to formulate the idea for a whole system. Part of his creed evolved into being “avoid pain, avoid ego, dignify yourself, and become accomplished enough that you can avoid killing”.
Evolution of Krav Maga
In April of 1940, Imi fled Europe and made his way to Israel. Fraught with problems, the voyage took him years to arrive. Late in 1942, Imi arrived to find a large population of Jews that were unprotected from the British controlled territory and unable to carry weapons. His reputation preceding him, Imi was recruited as a hand-to-hand instructor of the Jewish troops by the head of the Haganah, the underground militia in Palestine.
A type of training was developed called the Kapap. It incorporated wrestling, self defense against weapons, as well as specialized physical fitness conditioning. In 1948 Israel was made its own state, with part of Palestine being turned into a Jewish territory. The IDF was created for the defense of the new defense system for Israel, and Imi joined service.
Imi began to expand on Kapap to develop new techniques and refine old ones to create the most efficient methods of defense possible. He spent 15 years in the IDF, and before he retired, Imi had personally overseen the development of the most elite soldiers in the military.
After retiring, Imi opened two academies, in order to expand his techniques to everyone. They were located in Tel Aviv and Netanya, and during this transition Imi adopted his Hebrew name. The name translated to Lichtenfeld, which means “field of light”.
Krav Maga Design
Krav Maga was adopted into a Federation in 1978. It had been created as a national self-defense style, but teaching split into two different camps. One was adopted by military branches to continue making brazen but simple fighting techniques, and the other branch of Krav Maga involved setting a standard that opened the style up for anyone. Two years after its creation, the Federation’s name was changed to the Israeli Krav Maga Association.
Any “division” seen in Krav Maga can be found in Imi’s confusion over the belt system. Initially avoiding the idea, Imi felt more and more pressure from the martial arts community. He wanted Krav Maga to be recognized as a style all on its own, and with the Federation’s creation he implemented a belt system similar to Judo’s. In the mid-1990’s, Imi attempted to retract the belt system entirely. While the majority of the schools around the globe followed suit, many still use a belt system formally, though not practically, to this day.
The style is less of a set of skills that students memorize or “do”, and more of an understanding with how the body works, and defense in real-life situations. These are situations that are understood as being potentially fatal if failed. Students are, depending on the academy, gagged, assaulted without light, or even tied up and asked to neutralize the situation. It is a style of defending against the most wretched possible plights, and the simplest and least-destructive possible solution.
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