Episode 137: The Bielefeld Conspiracy — Does a German City Actually Exist?In May 1994, a computer science student named Achim Held posted a joke to a German internet forum. He declared that the city of Bielefeld — home to 340,000 people, a medieval fortress, a university, and Arminia Bielefeld football club — did not exist. The joke spread. Chancellor Angela Merkel referenced it in 2012. The city offered one million euros to anyone who could prove it didn't exist. In 2025, a New York Times article noted that Bielefeld's reputation as a somewhat unremarkable, overlooked German city had given it ironic appeal. Tonight we examine a conspiracy theory that was never meant to be believed — and what it reveals about how belief works.This episode explores:* How Achim Held created the theory as satire of conspiracy thinking — and why the joke immediately escaped his control* The three founding questions — and why asking whether you know anyone from Bielefeld reveals exactly how conspiracy epistemology operates* The shadowy SIE — the unnamed THEM of the Bielefeld conspiracy, and why the vagueness of a conspiracy's coordinating power is not a weakness but a feature* The unfalsifiability design — how every piece of evidence for Bielefeld's existence is absorbed by the theory as evidence of conspiracy* What the one million euro competition produced — approximately two thousand entries, no winners, a confirmed city* Why Bielefeld's playful engagement with the theory represents a more effective response than futile denialThe Bielefeld Conspiracy is the most elegant piece of conspiracy theory satire ever created. What it reveals about unfalsifiability, the appeal to personal ignorance, and the social mechanics of belief formation is more interesting than any of its specific claims.What is certain: Bielefeld exists. The conspiracy that claims otherwise was a joke from the start. And the fact that a thirty-year-old internet prank remains culturally vital says something interesting about the human relationship with hidden truth.Keywords: Bielefeld conspiracy theory, does Bielefeld exist, Bielefeld Germany joke, Bielefeld conspiracy satirical, German city doesn't exist theory, Bielefeld 1994 internet joke, Bielefeld million euro prize, unfalsifiable conspiracy theory, Bielefeld Angela Merkel, conspiracy theory satire example

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related