Does Bielefeld exist? 

That's exactly what THEY want you to believe.

I passed by the autobahn exit to Bielefeld a few months ago and it was "closed for roadworks". Haha, they really think they can fool us with their bloody tricks!

Sorry to you and all Bielefelders but this joke never gets old. NEVER!

"It's not funny anyore" Yeah sure, you british spy.

The funny thing is, that I live in Bielefeld my whole childhood and never new about this. Like Bielefeld is the only place where you can mention Bielefeld without someone mentioning the conspiracy.

Arminia Bielefeld's defence certainly didn't exist when I went to see them...

THIS, my friend, NEVER gets old.

I do not get it. The Bielefeld conspiracy is actually incredible funny.

Well, my wife works there. At least that is what she tells me...

The funniest thing happened in a lecture about "Algorithms and Data Structures" that I attended in college. We were talking about how to traverse graphs and our professor showed us the subway networks (I think) of a few German cities (since, well, we live in Germany) as examples for what specifically a graph can be. The first network that he showed us was quite chaotic like it is in most larger cities, and then he pulled up Bielefeld and said something along the lines of "This, on the other hand, looks very simple and organized in comparison, which I think speaks volumes about the likelihood of a city like this actually existing". I was laughing so hard, his delivery was absolutely perfect

The horse is dead. But we will drag it along till it starts running again.

Beating a dead horse becomes funny when beating long enough. The Bielefeld conspiracy has been beaten to hilarity. Why stop now? Let's see if it gets even funnier.

I´ve been to that ghosttown and i saw a lot of people, houses, roads, trees and everything you need for a town. And my first thought was: Wow, fantastic CGI! :D

I wonder, if the original situation would have been slightly different, whether it would have worked. Bielefeld is not entirely dissimilar in size to (a) Bochum and Gelsenkirchen, or (b) Münster, Karlsruhe, and Mannheim. However, the (a) cities have a way larger economic impact on Germany, the (b) cities have way more history. Basically, Bielefeld exists and is quite large, but has no certain role in German history nor present. So, would the same have worked with, say, Karlsruhe, which turns up in all kind of history books? About the joke as such though: we Germans are very efficient. If we have a joke, we will use it. After all, it is already there and doesn't have to be constructed again. So if it gets even half a shallow grin, it is a better per-work-invested result than a great new joke about Berlin.

Oh No! They get him. #savehim

My High School German teacher was one of them. She had us read a monthly publication called Bericht aus Bielefeld.

IN SPECIAL when some poor unknowing american guy asks for castles in the area the joke is hillarious. The confusion in their faces, unsure wheter you are serious or not, its also funny when your children learn cities for some school test and you tell them Bielefeld aint real...come on the talk with the teacher afterwards and his answer when my daughter sayed on the test bielefeld doesnt exist...thats comedy gold. He actually took it as joke and while she still got one point less on the test score he told her he has to do that cause THEY pay him to teach the city is real XD

I was born in Bielefeld, that's at least what my passport says. But I actually never lived in the city. Very mysterious...

I used my stopwatch to see how long it would take me to say the word "no", and it was less than a second. Why is this video 4:37 minutes long then?

Pink Floyd once had a big chart success with their Bielefeld song: "Wish you were here" :)

Oh my god THEY got to rewboss :O

Where's the beef? Andrew, as much as I admire you, but I don't believe that Bielefeld does exist, as long as you don't make one of your wonderful travel videos and actually have been there. But, please, don't take too much of a risk. It might be true, after all, that Deutsche Bahn's Bielefeld station actually is the entry to a wormhole that will send you to the other end of the galaxy. And as we know from StarTrek:Voyager, it can be a long way home.

I know a friend from Bielefeld who got so annoyed by always hearing "But Bielefeld doesn't exist" when saying he was from there that at some point he started saying that he was from Potsdam xD

I've been to Bielefeld... but I don't exist.

Oh... you're one of _THEM_ -.-

I'm not german but I must say that this joke never gets old.

Oh No he is One of them!

A little late to the party, perhaps, but I just had to say: seeing a Brit complain about people not being aware of when (not) to make jokes is absolutely hilarious to me, the epitome of the pot calling the kettle black. I've interacted with British people for years, and I'm still not always sure when they're being serious and when they're joking. In this one instance, Germans have taken that up and are running with it, and the Brit promptly gets annoyed by it. Welcome to every single outsider's interaction with the English. Do you see now why we tend to find you a bit on the irritating side from time to time?

I think the friend at the party said: “Das gibts doch gar nicht” wich can mean “that doesn’t exist” but is also an expression of surprise. Like in “Du warst letzte Woche in Trelleborg? Das gibts doch gar nicht ich auch!” “You visited Trelleborg last week? No way! Me too!”

Bielefeld claims to have about 400000 citizens and a university. But on 10 pm, even the Irish pub closes. Open are only one McDonalds and one restaurant. The first sentence and the two other ones do not fit each other. As I have experienced the latter, the claims seem to be wrong, and thus even the existence of Bielefeld ... ;-)

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!

You are one of THEM Go away i just want my Peace. Please do not kidnap me again.

Google Maps for a short time accidently fuelled this conspiracy theory: Because of a bug just a forest could be seen when switching from the map to the satellite view. BTW, I can confirm that Bielefeld does exist, because I studied there. And I can confirm that Bielefeld is not worth a visit.

Could you maybe tell us a bit how you became affiliated with the government?

It does indeed exist. It has a wonderful regional opera company which I was very lucky to see a fantastic performance of Handel's Xerxes last October.

I once rode a train from Duisburg to Berlin, and there was "Bielefeld Central Station" along the way. So far so good, they just took a random station somewhere near the place Bielefeld would be if it was real, and named it so. Not much work, just put "Bielefeld Hbf" signs on the platforms. Only they didn't pay attention to detail. It was an ICE train I was on. These are not supposed to stop at small insignificent towns, yet it stopped at Bielefeld. That was odd. Another piece of evidence. But it gets worse. Another time I was in that area, I decided to get off the train there and take a look around. Surely there will be more discrepancies to find. And hell was I right. The train station itself turned out to be an 18th century building, and there were many of that age in the city. Some medieval remnants even. You know what that means? Forget usenet. This is much, much bigger. This has been going on for at least a thousand years. The Prussians were in on it, the Karolingians were in on it, the Saxons, the French... hell, the fucking nazis were in on it. This is no small local joke. This is Ancient Egypt scale of deception. I couldn't find out what this place was originally called or what it was there for, but how could I. However put it there, and whoever had the means to publish maps throughout the ages, guess to whom they were answering.

Saw this video and laughed so hard - we Germans are a crazy folk XD

In Portugal there is a similar joke about the city of Leiria

well, I prefer Bielefeld as an old joke to ... i dont know ... having a queen

they do even have spambots for comment sections claiming they were born there.

As a Bielefelder I can confirm that our city does not exist.

oh no, rewboss is one of them!

rewboss is one of them!

As a British citizen who was born in Biefeleld to military parents with aspirations of moving to Germany in the future, I'm so not looking forward to the chorus of "Bielefeld gibt es doch gar nicht!" whenever someone finds out about it

The 800th anniversary of the founding of Bielefeld actually had the Motto "Das gibts doch gar nicht!" (That doesn't exist).

Small correction from a Bielefeld inhabitant: Achim Held drove on the motorway A2, after the party and all exits to Bielefeld were blocked caused by a construction site. And so he said to his friend, who was with him in the same car »Bielefeld gibt es doch gar nicht!« By remembering the guy at the party, who told him that he would come from Bielefeld. That's the entire story. But for the rest: GREAT VIDEO 👍👍👍

“It’s not funny anymore” Who said it was a joke?

The legend was also kept alive because for a while, due to poor road construction planning, Bielefeld was almost impossible to reach by car without going crazy.

Like the Rick Roll the Bielefeld conspiracy will never die. You know the rules and so do I!

Oh, it's actually pretty funny! We have a similar running joke in Portugal about the city of "Leiria" too. There are even some maps of our country that leave it out, and people say you can't meet anyone from there because the place simply doesn't exist. But I think we wouldn't say that to a tourist visiting Portugal, haha!

So it's like Australia, Denmark, and Finland?

Well Ive visited a friend in Bielefeld in 1993. No doubt "Them" is Dr Oetker!

YOU MUST BE ONE OF THEM

I lived there for half a year in 1975, so at least it existed back then. Maybe not much to see and do there but the surrounding countryside is pretty and idyllic, and it's spitting distance from the Teutoburger Wald, a very beautiful strip of woodland topping a lengthy low ridge. And of course there's oodles of history in the Teutoburger Wald. If I'm not mistaken it's where the Germans stopped the Romans in their tracks and halted their northeastward advance across Europe.

The „or did I“ killed me

I passed through and stayed in Bielefeld for a half hour this week on the 9 euro ticket before becoming aware it's a joke. But nonetheless it's good to know, I already had a feeling while in the station.

"it's not funny anymore" you haven't got the right to say that monty

thanks again for an entertaining video. Havent heard the castles joke for long btw

Well, at least we know German humor exists ;)

The meme is an oldie but a goodie. Still always get a chuckle out of it.

Okay, I NEVER heard of that conspiracy. xD But it sounds funny!

This is as apposed to Delaware, which really does not exist.

Oh by the way, have a look at literally the first paragraph of this travel guide on Bielefeld en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bielefeld Note that it contains little more than that...

Bie-le-feld 👏👏 Bie-le-feld 👏👏 Bie-le-feld 🔊

I never have been there, therefore i dont know that it exists! For me its Schroedingers Bielefeld!

While the lasting quality of the joke, like all jokes, is a matter of opinion, I hope it never dies, as it is an excellent spoof of more serious conspiracy theories. Very useful in this regard.

First some things will never get old. But i can understand the people from Bielefeld. I was born in a city called Buxtehude, and if you tell this some one from southern Germany you mostly get the same reaction like you get for Bielefeld. I was told that many people in the very south of Germany belive that Buxtehude is just a made up city for the faiytale hare and hedgog and the movie "tante trude aus Buxtehude". for them Buxtehud eis just like Bielefeld.

My English teacher lived there for a good while.. and she exists.. so it probably exists… unless She is connected to .. them.

very funny! I heard the story about the non-existence of this town in a completely different version, which does fit the version of rewboss as well: In the early days of Internet some universities all over Germany had a contract to go on line at the same time, reporting all other unversities about the fact they are on, and so they did. When every city did their duty, it was the turn on Bielefeld to sign that they're on line, but they didn't. The Explanation was a large power failure happening on the same time Bielefeld university switched on, and one mamber of the Germany-wide research group mentioned: "Bielefeld gibt es nicht" - "Bielefeld does not exist". That's all due to a simple power failure. Ridiculous!

Bielefeld is the German version of the Truman Show and the tourists hold the role of Truman.

thanks for bringing it up! that's how the joke stays alive ;D

Must be the same “them” that made everyone think that North Dakota exists. But everyone knows that there is only just Dakota

I have worked in Bielefeld for 2 Month. It was the most terrible time of my life. I had a psychopathic, chloleric Boss who lead me into the Burnout. I only can wish that Bielefeld doesnt exist, but I believe it exists.

Oh it's like the leggendary italian region of Molise!

Andrew is one of THEM!

RCLBeauty101 actually found it. Irs in a blog but it's pretty small.

Bielefeld is really the area 51 of the British Army and is still the only occupied area of Germany and this is why it does not exist. Just like Catterick in northern Britain is totally fictitious. When sqauddies say the are based at Catterick they really mean Bielefeld. I know for I served there and worked on the Mega Secret Sparkly Death Ray and the Hypereffizienter Kartoffelschäler und Pomme Fritz Hobel

fun fact: Bielefeld has actually a nice castle to visit: the Sparrenburg on a hill near the city centre

Thanks rewboss. I go to uni in Bielefeld and my god it gets annoying after a while. But I do understand why Bielefeld works for a conspiracy: it's a name that some people probably have heard before (or seen), but it's pretty bland. Good selection of restaurants though! Don't go see the uni. It's ugly as sin.

I'm from Bielefeld, I'm but I still question it's existence. Who knows, maybe my memories are fake....

The Bielefeld conspiracy will never get old.

I hitchhike a lot and sometimes when i want to go to a place near Bielefeld i just add Bielefeld to my sign, a lot of car driver than mention how desperate i must be to write a city on the sign that does not exist...

Actually the parts of Bielefeld southwest of the Teuteburg Forest does exist (Brackwede, Quelle, Senne, Sennestadt). The rest is.... at least unsure.

but you didnt even show one picture of the alledged city

Does Bielefeld exist? Unfortunately yes.

Ich bin Österreicher aber kenne trotzdem Bielefield. Wisst ihr woher? Aus Achtung Kontrolle mit den Citydetektiven Eugen und Farid. Kann mir jemand sagen ob die wirklich existieren oder ob das (teilweise) nur gespielt ist? Das interessiert mich schon lange. ;)

I heard they have an arcade full of polybius machines.

Him : "Bielefeld doesn't exsists" Me who lives in Bielefeld : "Excuse me-"

Germans have just a city, we Mexicans have a whole state (Tlaxcala) whose existence is disputed as part of a conspiracy.

I live in Bielefeld, why do you say it doesn't exist?

why don't you make the next destination video in Bielefeld?

But... I'm supposed to have family living there... So they actually don't exist? Or am I part of THEM without even knowing it???

Nice try.

Bielefeld does exist! I'm not so sure about Coventry though...

Oh no it won't get old. ;)

he is one of those people

Nice job translating German wikipedia.

No, I don' think that Bielefeld exist. But if: It must be a reason why you see so many cars with a BI on the Plate in Hannover.

It's a lovely town. I visited in 1987.