Sde-Or, Imi, 1910-1997

LC control no.	n 99042541
Personal name heading	Sde-Or, Imi, 1910-1997 *Browse this term in* LC Authorities or the LC Catalog
Variant(s)	Or, Imi Sde-, 1910-1997 Lichtenfeld, Imi, 1910-1997
Located	Bratislava (Slovakia) Palestine
Birth date	1910-05-26
Death date	1998-01-09
Place of birth	Budapest (Hungary)
Place of death	Netanyah (Israel)
Field of activity	Krav maga Hand-to-hand fighting Swimming Boxing Wrestling Gymnastics Coaching (Athletics) Martial arts--Training Self-defense
Affiliation	Israel. Tseva haganah le-Yiśraʼel
Profession or occupation	Swimmers Boxers (Sports) Wrestlers Gymnasts Athletic trainers Coaches (Athletics)
Found in	Krav maga, 1999: CIP t.p. (Imi Sde-Or) data sheet (d. 1997; b. 1910) pub. info sheet (Imi Lichtenfeld; was chief instructor of hand-to-hand combat Israel Defense Forces) Wikipedia, March 28, 2024 Imi Lichtenfeld (born May 26, 1910 in Budapest, son of Samuel Lichtenfeld who was a chief inspector on the local police force in Bratislava. Imi grew up in Bratislava and was a successful swimmer, boxer, wrestler, and gymnast since his youth. He competed at national and international levels and was a champion and member of the Slovak National Wrestling Team. In 1928, he won the Slovak Youth Wrestling Championship, and in 1929, the adult championship in the light and middleweight divisions. That year, he also won the national boxing championship and an international gymnastics championship. In the late 1930s he developed krav maga in response to anti-Semitic attacks. In 1940 he fled to Palestine on the ship Pencho that was shipwrecked and he reached Palestine only in 1942. He served with distinction in the British supervised Czechoslovak 11th Infantry Battalion in North Africa. In 1944, Lichtenfeld began training Haganah fighters in his areas of expertise: physical fitness, swimming, wrestling, use of the knife, and defenses against knife attacks. During this period, he trained several elite units of the Haganah, Palmach, and Pal-yam. When the IDF was formed in 1948, he became Chief Instructor for Physical Fitness and Krav Maga at the IDF School of Combat Fitness. He served in the IDF for about 20 years, during which time he developed and refined his unique method for self-defense and hand-to-hand combat. Lichtenfeld retired from the Israeli military in 1964. After he finished his active duty, Lichtenfeld modified Krav Maga to fit the needs of police forces and ordinary civilians. To disseminate his method, Lichtenfeld established two training centers, one in Tel Aviv and the other in Netanya where he trained teams of Krav Maga instructors. He died in Netanya on January 9, 1998.) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imi_Lichtenfeld>