Krav Maga: Slovak-made /Krav Maga ma domov na Slovenksu

Imrich Lichtenfeld is a not a very know Slovak Jew. Yet he was the inventor of one of the best self-defense system ever – the Krav Maga or the “Contact combat” fighting technique. Krav Maga is not a sport; “The attacks and defenses are intended for potentially lethal threat situations, and aim to neutralize these and escape via maximum pain or damage to opponents, as rapidly as safely as possible. Crippling attacks to vulnerable body parts, including groin, eye strikes, headbutts, improvised use of any objects available and maximizing personal safety in a fight are emphasized”. What proned Imi to get into something like that? Well, Imi was happily growing up in Bratislava (SL) when around the 1930’s the anti-Semitic riots began threatening the Jewish population. Since he was an avid boxer (he won numerous wrestling competitions such as the National Boxing Championship) he and his friends would bravely defend his people by attempting to block the anti-Semitic bands from entering the Jewish quarter, thus getting into numerous violent fights. But he quickly realized that boxing by itself is not enough for a real defense and therefore began developing system of techniques for a practical self-defense. In 1940 he boarded the last immigrant ship that succeeded in escaping the Nazis’ claws and imigrated to Palestine (this adventerous journey, by the way, took him little over 2 years!). His talent was soon discovered also by the Israelis and he was asked to develop the sports and close combat systems in the Israeli Defensive forces such as soldiers as well as groups of police officers. After Israel became its own state in 1948 Imi also started to teach at the School of Combat Fitness. This is where his style of fighting got its name: the Krav Maga. Imi was active until the very end when he died of natural causes at the age of 87.

CZ: I kdyz Imrich Lichtenfeld neni ta nejznamejsi osobnost byvaleho Ceskoslovenska (ja osobne jsem o nem nikdy neslysela), je zakladatelem jednim z nejefektivnejsich kurzu sebeobrany, a to Krav Megy, neboli “Contact combat”. Nemylte se, Krav Mega neni sportovni aktivita, jako je tennis nebo boxovani; “..tyto zpusoby utoku a sebeobrany jsou urcene v situacich, ve kterych vam hrozi smrt. Cilem je nejen zneutralizovat tato napadeni, ale take uniknout utocnikovi, zpusobit mu co nejvice bolesti, a to co nejbezpecneji a nejrychleji, jak je to jen mozne. Co je zduraznene v “pravidlech” Krav Megy jsou ochromujici utoky zamerujici se zejmena na zranitelne casti lidskeho tela, jako je slabina, oci, lebka, ale take pouziti k utoku jakykoliv dostupny predmet; behem zapasu se take klade duklad na osobni bezpecnost. A co Imiho primelo vynalezt takovy zpusob bojovani? Nu, Imi vyrustal v Bratislave (za Rakouska-Uherska), okolo te same doby, kdy ve meste zacali byt popularni anti-semiticke utoky. Lichtenfeld byl nejen velmi dobry v gymanstice a plavani, ale take v boxovani; proto zalozil jakysi zapasnicky tym, s kterym se snazil fyzicky branit Zidovskou ctvrt pred napadem Nacistu. Nejednou se tak dostal do dosti krvelacnych a nebezpecnych pracek. Brzy si ale uvedomil, ze pouhe boxovani tuto bitvu nevyhraje a zacal o volnem case vynalezat system ruznych bojovnych technik, urcenych pro drsnou sebeobranu. V roce 1940 se rozhodl opustit svou rodinu a kamarady, nasedl na posledni lod, ktere se podarilo uniknout nacistickym drapum a emigroval do Palestyny. Plavba touto lodi mu mimochodem trvala cele dva roky! Lichtenfeldova “morska” dobrodruzstvi jsou podrobne zachycena v Birmanove knize “Odyssey”. V Palestine sve bojovne techniky pak vyucoval ruznym zidovskym organizacim. Pote, co se v roce 1948 Izrael stal svym vlastnim statem Imi zacal take vyucovat ve skole “of Combat Fitness”. Zde tento styl sebeobrany dostal sve jmeno: Krav Mega. Imrich zemrel v Izraeli ve veku 87-mi let.

http://www.krav-maga.com/imi.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krav_Maga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imi_Lichtenfeld