Krav Maga History Interview

[beach-ranger]

I’ve recently started training in Krav Maga, but I’ve taken a special interest in its history and have searched all over the web from forums to articles on this topic.

However, in my search I took a little bit of offense with this particular interview:

http://www.your-krav-maga-expert.com/Krav-Maga-History-Interview.html

The reason why I took some offense was that, while it contains some pieces of good information, the interview itself seems intentionally aimed at debunking the idea of Imi as the founder of Krav Maga.

This is the info I found on the interviewed person:

http://www.usadojo.com/biographies/noah-gross.htm

My knowledge about Krav Maga’s history is still very basic, so I have no comments on it (except for the way I felt after reading this), but I would like to know from more knowledgeable people here what they think about this and perhaps get some clarifying information.

[don]

Re: Krav Maga History Interview

I don’t know how accurate the article is but it sounds plausible and it didn’t seem offensive to me… YMMV…

[cjs-dad]

Re: Krav Maga History Interview

I found the article interesting as well thank you for sharing it. And I agree with Don it is plausible right place right time kind of thing. It seems more a clarification of chain of events then a means to discredit. I personally am in no way a purist however I will say that IMHO I think what Imi did do was introduce the principals and how to apply them to techniques.

To me Krav Maga isn’t a book of curriculum Imi decided one day to sit down and write, its more a methodology of techniques that apply to guidelines.

Once you grasp that concept then you can apply it to just about any problem that’s presented.

That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[wiccaman]

Re: Krav Maga History Interview

I found the interview interesting. The account seems plausible and tallies with things I’ve heard elsewhere.

I don’t think anyone is trying to take any credit from Imi and he was always happy to acknowledge his influences.

We had an interesting discussion about this a while back. the thread seems to be archived now and I’m too techno-illiterate to know how to resurrect it.

FWIW, I reproduce my ‘contribution’ to that thread below:

Hi All

As a bit of a Fairbairn-Sykes-Applegate aficionado this is a subject that’s always been very interesting to me. I’ve studied the issue for quite some time. Obviously in view of the length of time since the events in question it’s difficult to get objective answers and a lot of the information is conflicting.

From what i can gather however it’s fairly clear that a number of Jewish soldiers (either having managed to get away from the Nazis or even having come from the Mandate) did end up fighting in the British forces. An official Jewish Brigade was formed in 1944 but there’s no doubt many a Jewish person fought under the flag well before that.

These groups were certainly exposed to the Camp X style training and individuals may even have attended; especially the ‘commando’ type units that ended up being sent to fight in the Balkans.

Many of these chaps found their way back to the Mandate after the War. They are likely to have formed the core of the Haganah (and possibly Irgun and the Stern Group as well) so it’s likely they brought what they had learnt with them. That is likely to have come to Imi’s attention. Practical chap that he was he may well have incorporated some of the methodology into KM. Remember that the British would have called the techniques CQC/B so in Hebrew this is likely to have come out as KM or KAPAP in any event without necessarily intending to refer to a particular system. There is also likely to have been a great deal of overlap because of the parallel evolution of the systems. Both Imi and Fairbairn had the same goal when it all comes down to it.

The more speculative/controversial elements suggest that IMI may have actually served in a British trained Palmach unit and/or even served with the British during the 45-48 period. I can see the first possibility perhaps but the second seems unlikely in view of IMI’s well know patriotism, unless of course he just wanted to get the inside dope and was doing a bit of intelligence gathering.

The Haganah however were well known for snaffling British kit (as they would otherwise have been left practically unarmed) and they may well have studied how the British troops were trained just for practical Sun Szu ‘know your enemy’ reasons. If they thought the British methods (in any area of combat) had anything to offer they would no doubt have considered adopting it.

I also met some guys from the Wingate and they told me that there are quite a few old copies of ‘Get Tough’ and similar in their archives. They may just have been pulling my leg though.

I’d love to get to the bottom of all this. Even if it turns out there is a F-S-A influence in KM that does not in any way detract from Imi’s considerable achievements. He took ideas from many styles, both Western and Eastern, it’s getting mix right that’s the skill. I know my way around the ingredients isle of many local food shops but i can’t cook for jack.

[tech94]

Re: Krav Maga History Interview

KevinMack is the best Krav Maga historian I’ve read posts from. He may be able to contribute to this discussion.

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