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!
There are glitches in the Matrix, sometimes easy to detect. The ''roadwork'' you mention was related to the strike of the actors and comparses, simulating a population
It may not get old when you only hear it every now and than, but when you hear it everytime someone asks "where are you from?" it get's old quite fast. This is also a great way to completly ruin a first impression.
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.
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
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
Paid actors, good facades, just the locatiins a tourist visits are real, the rest is drywall. Bielefeld is the German version of the Truman show, and the tourists have the role of Truman
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.
Beating a dead horse is one thing, but what rewboss is saying is they moved it to another level. The joke of Bielefeld not existing isn't just a joke anymore. Originally everyone hearing that joke knew it is a joke. Today people on the internet tell other people who are unaware of this joke that Bielefeld doesn't exist. That's not beating a dead horse but riding one.
Which makes the joke even more poignant and important, especially in a world full of fake news and alternative facts. It reminds you to look twice, but be also careful about buying into conspiracy theories easily.
@@bit0159 It is not a function of time, but of the internet itself. You can't say anything, no matter how ridiculously outlandish and obviously made up, without someone on the internet saying they believe you (for the laugh) followed by someone else earnestly trusting that person and genuinely believing you (because a lot of humans are really, really stupid, and should never have been allowed access to the web)
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.
@@Ulkomaalainen Bielefeld is the regiopol of one of the strongest economic regions (OWL) in Germany and has some of the biggest family owned buisnesses in Europe (you know Dr. Oetker, Goldbeck, Gildemeister?). It has a crazy industrial history, the main city for linen production in central Europe, first German bikes, sewing, machinery etc. (Leineweberstadt for a reason), it has a 820 year old history (how can you compare Gelsenkirchen here?) and now Bielefeld has 340.000 inhabitants, only less than Bochum (comparing the cities you mentioned). Also it has one of the fastest growing universities, world famous for its sociology and history departments, it is the founding place of Greenpeace Germany and parts of the Green party. I could go on and on about history. But you obviously are not interested in facts. Münster, Mannheim and Karlsruhe have a longer history than Bielefeld, true, but just so you know. No one in Northwest Germany gives a crap about Karlsruhe or Mannheim (and everyone jokes about Gelsenkirchen in NRW).
@@freaka1987 Then you misunderstood my point. I didn't want to say that Bielefeld is not worthy to live in (although the university leaves some stuff to be desired regarding architecture, and that's not even mentioning the student dorms). And I didn't give Gelsenkirchen as an example of more history but as an example as a more well known industrial town. And the "well known" part was the key of my statement. Bielefeld (as the whole Ostwestfalen region) suffers from not be as ingrained into the German conscience as comparable cities in size (I could say the same, on a smaller scale, about Paderborn) which is why this "conspiracy" works so well, even if tongue in cheek. Because the things you say may be true but people are not aware. Bielefeld exists but if you asked the man on the street outside of OWL, they'd be likely to mention Arminia, maybe the Hermannsdenkmal (even though that's not even in Bielefeld proper IIRC) but nothing about Dr Oetker or similar, whereas with the other cities I mentioned everyone has ideas (even though they might be wrong). It's not meant about what Bielefeld actually is but about what people know about the city and what comes up when they hear the name. (Oh, and I am very much interested in facts.)
@@Ulkomaalainen 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 - your words from above. You generalize and I have given you enough examples why you are wrong about your points concerning history, industry and importance. Now you say that you only meant that people do not know about it, that is not what you said. I also know people that ask me about Bielefeld University because it is special in its architecture as it is the second largest connected building in Europe. Now you talk about dorms? It is totally fine if you don't care about Bielefeld but you obviously just tried to theorize based on wrong examples. I think you confuse you not knowing about Bielefeld with the whole of Germany not knowing about Bielefeld. If you really want the reason why this consipracy worked, read one of the many articles by the creator of this conspiracy meant as a joke done on a student party.
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 once had a zwischenstopp at a "bielefeld" named station and i must say they did it very well! i even found a working ATM machine outdoors. ONLY WHY? what is their reason?
@@kiwi_kirsch I remember outdoors ATMs, and the reason was, as a friend of mine who worked for a local Sparkasse told me, that they didn't want drunkards or young people to vomit inside their rooms or litter their floor. I don't think there are any anymore. However, I recently saw a report on TV that there is a gang around who blow up ATMs with TNT, grab the money and run. Police are clueless, because the thieves always wore hoods and masks.
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!”
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
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 ... ;-)
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.
@@albussr1589 You may not be searching but you too will find God one day. Hint: Its not a beardy old man in the sky. Don't take things so literally ffs.
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 👍👍👍
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?
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!
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.
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.
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.
That was Cielefeld... someone changed the sighs. Bielefeld doesnt really exist and it made up. Those people there just wanted to get the money from the tourists...
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
Genius comment! Self-referential, self-perpetuating. I can feel spacetime convoluting just reading it, realising I - and everyone else who has read it - has been Rick-rolled. I've always wanted to know how the Bielefeld wormhole was created. I've been waiting for so long.
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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...
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...
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.
That's what I thought, as well: As alluded to in Rewboss' remark on the castles, Germany wouldn't miss _that_ much if it really didn't exist. (Sorry. ;) ) It's big enough that many people have heard of it, but for most people, there isn't a real reason to go there.
Don't be sorry. I agree. There are prettier castles... well, especially surrounded by prettier towns. Sparrenburg actually is quite nice, but not Heidelberg castle. And Bielefeld is not Heidelberg, which makes it much worse. :D In the end, the place you live in should be nice to live in, because, from experience, the sights get boring pretty quickly...
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
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.
That wasn't the origin: the Bielefeld Conspiracy is 11 years older than Google Maps. That bug did happen, though, to the delight of fans of the Bielefeld Conspiracy.
You mean the Papertown video? In the case of Bielefeld it's the other way around: they is a town in real live (or THEY say that ;-) ), but in the map was no city...
OK, I hadn't heard this one before. Just goes to show the power of a rumor coupled with the internet. But this is like one of those songs that you can't get out of your head, I'll have to torture my German friends with the question........
Because it's quite a long way from where I live and the journey and hotel room would cost me more than I make in a month from all of my videos combined. If I can find somebody willing to pay my expenses, I'll do it.
I know those joke isn't funny anymore...but this conspiracy is like Chuck Norris jokes - they are older than the internet but someone will always find them funny
There is a difference between a joke that gets old and stops beeing funny and a running gag that in itself isn't funny at all but gets funny only by continously repeating (and the reaction of peoples to it). Although, if there are really some conspirancy theorists believing such a thing, it might be really overdone a little. On the other hand... there have been many jokes that some people believed to be serious. As long as it doesn't cause real harm... By the way: I heard someone claim that the whole USA is just an invention by ... someone ... and doesn't really exist. So Bielefeld is not alone on the list of places that maybe don't really 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!
There are glitches in the Matrix, sometimes easy to detect.
The ''roadwork'' you mention was related to the strike of the actors and comparses, simulating a population
"It's not funny anyore"
Yeah sure, you british spy.
It was never meant to be funny
What happens is actually pretty sad
"Yeah sure, you british spy"
wait... so the british are "they"? i am confused
Sorry to you and all Bielefelders but this joke never gets old. NEVER!
Joke?!
May he is one of them...
Kota|Erufen Rīto I just try to stay low so "they" don't ger me.
We will c. They watch us. ;)
It may not get old when you only hear it every now and than, but when you hear it everytime someone asks "where are you from?" it get's old quite fast. This is also a great way to completly ruin a first impression.
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.
Du bist einer von "Ihnen" go away you dirty Spy
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
THIS, my friend, NEVER gets old.
Well, my wife works there. At least that is what she tells me...
you think she is your wife,... ? ;-)
Is your name Truman?
The horse is dead. But we will drag it along till it starts running again.
Arminia Bielefeld's defence certainly didn't exist when I went to see them...
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
😂😂😂😂
Paid actors, good facades, just the locatiins a tourist visits are real, the rest is drywall.
Bielefeld is the German version of the Truman show, and the tourists have the role of Truman
I do not get it. The Bielefeld conspiracy is actually incredible funny.
nope, it is pretty lame
@@ev.09 Nope its funny :D
@@Socrates775 No, not if your hear it over and over again. It get's lame...
@@ev.09nope it's funny deal with it
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.
Beating dead mush
Beating a dead horse is one thing, but what rewboss is saying is they moved it to another level. The joke of Bielefeld not existing isn't just a joke anymore. Originally everyone hearing that joke knew it is a joke. Today people on the internet tell other people who are unaware of this joke that Bielefeld doesn't exist. That's not beating a dead horse but riding one.
Bit 01 Sounds good to me... :D
Which makes the joke even more poignant and important, especially in a world full of fake news and alternative facts. It reminds you to look twice, but be also careful about buying into conspiracy theories easily.
@@bit0159 It is not a function of time, but of the internet itself. You can't say anything, no matter how ridiculously outlandish and obviously made up, without someone on the internet saying they believe you (for the laugh) followed by someone else earnestly trusting that person and genuinely believing you (because a lot of humans are really, really stupid, and should never have been allowed access to the web)
My High School German teacher was one of them. She had us read a monthly publication called Bericht aus Bielefeld.
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?
Oh No! They get him. #savehim
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.
you say so many wrong things. I wonder where get your information from
@@freaka1987 Please tell me what was wrong in my post? It is somewhat simplified but even after reading it again I think it holds true in general.
@@Ulkomaalainen Bielefeld is the regiopol of one of the strongest economic regions (OWL) in Germany and has some of the biggest family owned buisnesses in Europe (you know Dr. Oetker, Goldbeck, Gildemeister?). It has a crazy industrial history, the main city for linen production in central Europe, first German bikes, sewing, machinery etc. (Leineweberstadt for a reason), it has a 820 year old history (how can you compare Gelsenkirchen here?) and now Bielefeld has 340.000 inhabitants, only less than Bochum (comparing the cities you mentioned). Also it has one of the fastest growing universities, world famous for its sociology and history departments, it is the founding place of Greenpeace Germany and parts of the Green party. I could go on and on about history. But you obviously are not interested in facts. Münster, Mannheim and Karlsruhe have a longer history than Bielefeld, true, but just so you know. No one in Northwest Germany gives a crap about Karlsruhe or Mannheim (and everyone jokes about Gelsenkirchen in NRW).
@@freaka1987 Then you misunderstood my point. I didn't want to say that Bielefeld is not worthy to live in (although the university leaves some stuff to be desired regarding architecture, and that's not even mentioning the student dorms). And I didn't give Gelsenkirchen as an example of more history but as an example as a more well known industrial town.
And the "well known" part was the key of my statement. Bielefeld (as the whole Ostwestfalen region) suffers from not be as ingrained into the German conscience as comparable cities in size (I could say the same, on a smaller scale, about Paderborn) which is why this "conspiracy" works so well, even if tongue in cheek. Because the things you say may be true but people are not aware. Bielefeld exists but if you asked the man on the street outside of OWL, they'd be likely to mention Arminia, maybe the Hermannsdenkmal (even though that's not even in Bielefeld proper IIRC) but nothing about Dr Oetker or similar, whereas with the other cities I mentioned everyone has ideas (even though they might be wrong).
It's not meant about what Bielefeld actually is but about what people know about the city and what comes up when they hear the name.
(Oh, and I am very much interested in facts.)
@@Ulkomaalainen 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
- your words from above. You generalize and I have given you enough examples why you are wrong about your points concerning history, industry and importance. Now you say that you only meant that people do not know about it, that is not what you said. I also know people that ask me about Bielefeld University because it is special in its architecture as it is the second largest connected building in Europe. Now you talk about dorms? It is totally fine if you don't care about Bielefeld but you obviously just tried to theorize based on wrong examples. I think you confuse you not knowing about Bielefeld with the whole of Germany not knowing about Bielefeld. If you really want the reason why this consipracy worked, read one of the many articles by the creator of this conspiracy meant as a joke done on a student party.
Pink Floyd once had a big chart success with their Bielefeld song:
"Wish you were here" :)
I was born in Bielefeld, that's at least what my passport says. But I actually never lived in the city. Very mysterious...
Oh my god THEY got to rewboss :O
DerMitDemBlunt 😂😂😂
I've been to Bielefeld... but I don't exist.
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 once had a zwischenstopp at a "bielefeld" named station and i must say they did it very well! i even found a working ATM machine outdoors. ONLY WHY? what is their reason?
@@kiwi_kirsch I remember outdoors ATMs, and the reason was, as a friend of mine who worked for a local Sparkasse told me, that they didn't want drunkards or young people to vomit inside their rooms or litter their floor. I don't think there are any anymore. However, I recently saw a report on TV that there is a gang around who blow up ATMs with TNT, grab the money and run. Police are clueless, because the thieves always wore hoods and masks.
they do even have spambots for comment sections claiming they were born there.
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!”
“It’s not funny anymore”
Who said it was a joke?
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
5tingr4y But Potsdam is just a rich people suburb of Berlin
Lmao
Oh... you're one of _THEM_ -.-
Oh No he is One of them!
I'm not german but I must say that this joke never gets old.
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.
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 ... ;-)
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.
God.
Or the hilarity of their Ancestors
@@albussr1589 You may not be searching but you too will find God one day. Hint: Its not a beardy old man in the sky. Don't take things so literally ffs.
your comment is faaaar underliked.
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 👍👍👍
There are conflicting accounts about how Held came up with the idea, and nobody can agree which account is correct.
@@rewboss Achim Held doesn't exist. And Bielefeld has been renamed Aschaffenburg after another fictional city.
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?
Only from time to time?
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!
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.
WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!
oh no, rewboss is one of them!
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.
The 800th anniversary of the founding of Bielefeld actually had the Motto "Das gibts doch gar nicht!" (That doesn't exist).
well, I prefer Bielefeld as an old joke to ... i dont know ... having a queen
The meme is an oldie but a goodie. Still always get a chuckle out of it.
My English teacher lived there for a good while.. and she exists.. so it probably exists… unless
She is connected to .. them.
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.
That was Cielefeld... someone changed the sighs. Bielefeld doesnt really exist and it made up. Those people there just wanted to get the money from the tourists...
Are you saying that it's really Bielewald, not Bielefeld?
du wolltest sagen du hast also nie studiert?
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
:D
Ü
¦'-D
Like the Rick Roll the Bielefeld conspiracy will never die. You know the rules and so do I!
Genius comment! Self-referential, self-perpetuating. I can feel spacetime convoluting just reading it, realising I - and everyone else who has read it - has been Rick-rolled. I've always wanted to know how the Bielefeld wormhole was created. I've been waiting for so long.
@@theodorewinston3891 Why thank you! For this i shall... Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down! Never gonna run a round and desert you!
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
Bie-le-feld 👏👏 Bie-le-feld 👏👏 Bie-le-feld 🔊
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.
That's true. We told he Romans there is this big city Bieleus Feldus and why they searched in vain in the forest, we ambushed them from the back.
thanks again for an entertaining video. Havent heard the castles joke for long btw
As a Bielefelder I can confirm that our city does not exist.
Saw this video and laughed so hard - we Germans are a crazy folk XD
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.
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!
When I first saw the title I thought: "Why shouldn't it?"
im german btw
Are you new to the internet?
No, he is just one of them....
Must be the same “them” that made everyone think that North Dakota exists. But everyone knows that there is only just Dakota
In Portugal there is a similar joke about the city of Leiria
The Bielefeld conspiracy will never get old.
"it's not funny anymore" you haven't got the right to say that monty
This is as apposed to Delaware, which really does not exist.
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.
Bielefeld is the German version of the Truman Show and the tourists hold the role of Truman.
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...
Well Ive visited a friend in Bielefeld in 1993. No doubt "Them" is Dr Oetker!
Was lange währt, wird endlich gut und daher wird dieser Klassiker auch noch für lange Zeit erhalten bleiben.
Kunstkritik Was genau ist mit Bielefeld?
fun fact: Bielefeld has actually a nice castle to visit: the Sparrenburg on a hill near the city centre
Have you been there? There are BND documents that prove that Bielefeld was bogus by the DDR. The city doesn't exist.
rewboss is one of them!
YOU MUST BE ONE OF THEM
The „or did I“ killed me
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...
Well, at least we know German humor exists ;)
he is one of those people
I'm from Bielefeld, I'm but I still question it's existence. Who knows, maybe my memories are fake....
It's a lovely town. I visited in 1987.
Odothuigon oh jesus it has grown SO much since then
Him : "Bielefeld doesn't exsists"
Me who lives in Bielefeld : "Excuse me-"
I can't tell if you're serious or if you're joking so I'm not gonna say anything else
@@germancheese2801 are you sure?
Oh it's like the leggendary italian region of Molise!
Actually the parts of Bielefeld southwest of the Teuteburg Forest does exist (Brackwede, Quelle, Senne, Sennestadt). The rest is.... at least unsure.
Philipp Seeger the parts south of the forest are the asi/ghetto parts XD
Andrew is one of THEM!
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.
That's what I thought, as well: As alluded to in Rewboss' remark on the castles, Germany wouldn't miss _that_ much if it really didn't exist. (Sorry. ;) ) It's big enough that many people have heard of it, but for most people, there isn't a real reason to go there.
Don't be sorry. I agree. There are prettier castles... well, especially surrounded by prettier towns. Sparrenburg actually is quite nice, but not Heidelberg castle. And Bielefeld is not Heidelberg, which makes it much worse. :D
In the end, the place you live in should be nice to live in, because, from experience, the sights get boring pretty quickly...
I made an oath with myself that everyone who does this joke gets a punch in the stomach. You should do the same.
The Uni in the neighboring town of Münster (WWU) is much better, so switch.
Rick2010100 Münster isn't neighbouring, it's 1 1/2 hrs away
So it's like Australia, Denmark, and Finland?
You are one of THEM Go away i just want my Peace. Please do not kidnap me again.
Oh no it won't get old. ;)
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
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.
but you didnt even show one picture of the alledged city
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.
I thought the origin of this 'conspiracy' was a bug in Google maps years ago, where Google maps show only forest if you searched for Bielefeld...?
That wasn't the origin: the Bielefeld Conspiracy is 11 years older than Google Maps. That bug did happen, though, to the delight of fans of the Bielefeld Conspiracy.
Thanks for the info. But maybe THEY provoke this bug and the public thinks now we are conspiracist.... ;-)
Polowonix You got Bielefeld confused with a "town" with a similar story in America. Wendover Productions did a video on it
You mean the Papertown video? In the case of Bielefeld it's the other way around: they is a town in real live (or THEY say that ;-) ), but in the map was no city...
Was it really just a bug though? Or irrefutable proof that we were correct all along? We may never know...
Well, actually the Bielefeldverschwörung startet in 1976 with Udo Lindenberg's Song "Rätselhaftes Bielefeld" (Mysterious Bielefeld). xD
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???
OK, I hadn't heard this one before. Just goes to show the power of a rumor coupled with the internet. But this is like one of those songs that you can't get out of your head, I'll have to torture my German friends with the question........
"If it exists..." No. It IS still funny...
why don't you make the next destination video in Bielefeld?
Because it's quite a long way from where I live and the journey and hotel room would cost me more than I make in a month from all of my videos combined.
If I can find somebody willing to pay my expenses, I'll do it.
When I get my new dash cam ill make a video of the drive over the ridge and post it for you.
Bielefeld does exist! I'm not so sure about Coventry though...
I know those joke isn't funny anymore...but this conspiracy is like Chuck Norris jokes - they are older than the internet but someone will always find them funny
There is a difference between a joke that gets old and stops beeing funny and a running gag that in itself isn't funny at all but gets funny only by continously repeating (and the reaction of peoples to it).
Although, if there are really some conspirancy theorists believing such a thing, it might be really overdone a little. On the other hand... there have been many jokes that some people believed to be serious. As long as it doesn't cause real harm...
By the way: I heard someone claim that the whole USA is just an invention by ... someone ... and doesn't really exist. So Bielefeld is not alone on the list of places that maybe don't really exist... ^^
Okay, I NEVER heard of that conspiracy. xD
But it sounds funny!
I have never heard of this, nor do I want to play along. I googled it, it's a real place, I'm satisfied.
Emerald Nightshadow What if google is part of Them? I wouldn't put it past google.
Everest314 Ever heard the saying "quit while you're ahead"?
I heard they have an arcade full of polybius machines.
I live in Bielefeld, why do you say it doesn't exist?