The city of Bielefeld in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia will award a €1 million ($1.1m) prize to whoever presents credible proof of its non-existence.
Bielefeld’s mayor said he wanted to give people “another fair and generous chance” to prove that the long-running joke “Bielefeld doesn't exist at all” is not a hoax.
"We are excited about the creative submissions and are 99.99% sure that we will be able to refute any claims," said Martin Knabenreich, the official in charge of the city's marketing effort.
No taxpayers’ money is at stake, he added: the prize will be made possible by the 56 companies and institutions involved in Bielefeld’s image-building efforts.
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The Bielefeld conspiracy dates back to 1994, when then-computer science student Achim Held floated a joke on the internet that Bielefeld doesn’t exist. The notion that the 800-year-old city with more than 330,000 residents was an illusion, created by a mysterious entity known only as “THEY”, was a play on cryptic conspiracy theories and was clearly made in jest.
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It has lost little popularity since then, becoming one of the most popular internet jokes in Germany, and was once referenced by Chancellor Angela Merkel. During a town hall meeting in 2012, the Chancellor spoke of her trip to Bielefeld, adding, “if it exists at all” and “I had the impression that I was there.”
Jokester-in-chief Achim Held said he never intended for his joke to go that far, calling the idea of the competition “really funny” and saying he was curious to see the reactions.
Submissions are open until 4 September; if no evidence is provided to support the Bielefeld conspiracy, authorities will hold an official ceremony to refute the theory.
