As WWII was coming to a close in the 1940’s, Jewish people were emigrating to the newly formed nation of Israel. One of these emigrants was a man named Imi Lichtenfeld. Imi grew up in Bratislava where, under the tutelage of his father, he became an accomplished boxer and grappler. During WWII Imi fought against Nazi oppression by joining resistance forces in Europe. Imi’s hand-to-hand combat skills were incredibly valuable and he distinguished himself as a leader in the resistance.
When Israel needed to build a military force for it’s defense from it’s population of new citizens, Imi was selected by the nation’s leaders to train recruits in hand-to-hand combat. This was an incredibly daunting task because the Israel’s growing population of immigrating citizens were coming from all walks of life and the majority of them had little to no fighting or hand-to-hand combat experience.