| We know that Pilates traveled to England when | | | | make things worse, the camps did not close right |
| he was in his 30s, but there are at least two | | | | at the end of the war, since there was a long |
| different equally plausible stories about how and | | | | period of postwar hostilities. The camps finally |
| why he went. The first story tells us that he | | | | closed in late 1919, and most of the internees |
| went there to box, having exhausted most of the | | | | were deported back to Germany. |
| prizefighting venues at home. The second claims | | | | It was while interned at Knockaloe camp that Joe |
| that Joe had begun successfully performing in the | | | | Pilates began to really experiment with his |
| circus with his brother, and they had a Greek | | | | exercises and theories. It was obviously his |
| statue act that was so popular they took it to | | | | priority to maintain his own strength and |
| England. Whichever is true, Pilates was in England | | | | conditioning, which was not easy given the basic |
| in 1914 when WW I broke out and was interned | | | | lack of hygienic conditions and the presence of |
| by the British as an enemy alien. He first went to | | | | injured and sick internees and soldiers, but Pilates |
| a small camp near Lancaster, where he began | | | | also had to deal with the great influenza epidemic |
| teaching self defense and wrestling to the other | | | | of 1918. In a time when there was no physical or |
| Germans, claiming that they would be stronger | | | | exercise therapy and medicine was relatively |
| when they left than when they entered. It was | | | | archaic, Joe began to work with the sick and |
| here that Joe began to develop his system of | | | | injured men. He taught them to breathe and |
| Contrology. Then he was transferred. | | | | attached bedsprings with straps to the walls by |
| During both World Wars, the British set up their | | | | their hospital beds so they could begin to stretch |
| Alien Civilian Internment Camps on the Isle of | | | | and exercise by pushing or pulling on the springs |
| Man. Interestingly, they only interned males | | | | before they could even get out of bed. His |
| women were not interned. For WW1 (1914-1918) | | | | patients got out of bed much faster, and Joe's |
| a very large camp was established on the west | | | | experiments were encouraged. Outside of the |
| coast of the island at Knockaloe. The Knockaloe | | | | hospital he took large groups of internees through |
| camp, intended to house 5000 men, ended up | | | | his exercise regimen every day believing |
| expanding to hold about 24,000. It was 22 acres | | | | wholeheartedly that the more everyone breathed |
| large, divided into 23 compounds split into 4 | | | | and moved the better off they would be. "Out |
| separate camps. Each camp had its own hospital, | | | | with the bad germs and in with the fresh new |
| theater, cafeteria, printing presses, etc. and the | | | | oxygen," he would counsel. England lost tens of |
| hospitals were used to treat soldiers injured on | | | | thousands and while the camps were hit |
| the front lines of battle. The Knockaloe camps | | | | extremely hard by the flu, only 200 men died at |
| were built from wooden huts, and became | | | | Knockaloe, thus proving to Joe that he was right. |
| extremely depressing after several years. To | | | | |