NP: Bielefeld

[David Casseres]

The following is shamelessly lifted from a discussion board:

-----------------------------------------

Even 42 years ago, when I last lived in Germany, the city of Bielefeld  
had a mysterious and somewhat other-worldly aura. A humorous way to  
say goodbye, for example, went like this:

Wir sehen uns wieder...
wenn nicht in dieser Welt,
also doch in Bielefeld.

(We will see each other again, if not in this world then for sure in  
Bielefeld.)

Over the last fifteen years or so, it seems that a growing number of  
Germans have begun to question whether the thousand-year-old city of  
300,000 really is what it claims to be. If you think about it, have  
you ever met anyone who comes from Bielefeld? Almost no one can, even  
among Germans, and those who have find that their memories are only of  
anonymous people with vacant expressions and robotic movements. Have  
you ever actually been in Bielefeld? Or do you know anyone who has? I  
thought not.

There are other eery facts:

1. Rather remarkably for a country with an astonishing array of local  
and regional accents, all instantly recognizable, there is no  
Bielefeld accent. None. The accent simply does not exist at all, in  
anyone's memory. One wonders why.

2. Up until October of 2006, Google Earth placed the city of Bielefeld  
inside a forested area. When people began raising questions, Google  
hurriedly "fixed" their maps. Or were they manipulated? The city has  
no tourist attractions and no federal offices, and although it sits on  
the major railway line that runs from Dortmund to Berlin, no one can  
remember seeing the city center, or even the interior of the Bielefeld  
train station (always under reconstruction, supposedly).

3. In 1999, a press release appeared that claimed to come from the  
city council of Bielefeld. It was entitled Bielefeld gibt es doch!!!  
(Bielefeld does indeed exist!) But the date on the press release was  
April 1, 1999, and few Germans believe in its authenticity.

4. Bielefeld apparently has a professional soccer team, known as  
Arminia Bielefeld, but it came to public awareness only after the  
existence of Bielefeld was publicly questioned. Photos of the team are  
notable for their robotic rigidity, even by German standards. For  
example:

http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,1400913_ind_1,00.html

5. Humorists and conspiracy theorists have had a field day with the  
Bielefeld problem, but the fact remains that the city occupies a  
position at the intersection of two Ley Lines, a feature it shares  
only with one other place in the world: Area 51, located near Nellis  
Air Force Base in Nevada.

More details: http://www.bielefeldverschwoerung.de/
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