However, the city of Bielefeld - assuming it exists - does not seem to have many attractions, as its marketing department used its alleged non-existence as the cornerstone of its city advertising in 2019. Their marketing department had offered 1,000,000 euros in prize money: whoever could prove that Bielefeld really doesn't exist would win the million.

Back in August 2019, a man demanded the prize money and then sued the city, which was unwilling to pay; he justified the non-existence with a so-called axiom, a theoretically abstract fundamental statement that is valid without proof.

The Regional Court of Bielefeld dismissed the action (judgement of 26/09/2023, Ref. 1 O 181/22). It was clear from the publication of all of the city marketing texts relating to the competition and also the conditions of participation that it was a joke. From the reasons: “According to the objective horizon of the recipient, the required success would only have been the obviously impossible empirical proof of the non-existence of Bielefeld. The axiomatic proof within an axiomatic system was not covered.”

It is not known whether the decision is final, i.e. whether an appeal has been lodged. So far, the legal dispute has cost the philosopher around 8,500 euros in court and legal fees. We ask our readers to let us know if there is a corresponding non-existent city in Italy. Colloquially, for example, a comparison can be drawn between Canicattì in Sicily and Buxtehude in Lower Saxony. The vernacular refers to both as towns that are somewhere, but in any case far away.