Bielefeld city conspiracy

April 1, 1999: As a result of a 20-year-old internet joke that the German city of Bielefeld doesn't actually exist, five years after the myth started to spread, the city council released a press statement titled Bielefeld Gibt es doch! (Bielefeld does exist!). However, the statement’s publication date of April 1, 1999 (April Fools' Day) was ill-chosen as it unwittingly played right into the humorous conspiracy. In allusion to the conspiracy, the 800th anniversary of Bielefeld was held under the motto Das gibt's doch gar nicht (colloquially “This can't be true”, but literally “This does not actually exist”).