[bhaak]

"promptly" :-)

It started in 1994 on the German Usenet.

Edit: this is the original posting http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=2r570dINNahh%40snofru.i...

You'll notice the usenet group is de.talk.bizarre so it is completely understandable that people think this is just a hoax.

[em-bee]

it's not clear that the joke started on usenet or offline and was just reported there.

reality is that at one point all highway exits to bielefeld were closed (that's what i was told), and that triggered the joke. that this joke is still alive is astonishing.

source: i have been to a conference in a city that claimed to be bielefeld. now i am not so sure anymore...