Immer wenn der Steiner kam

This documentary tracks the presence and activities of German mercenary soldiers without dressing the subject up as action cinema. Through on-camera interviews, voiceover, and period footage, it pieces together who these men were, why they fought for pay, and how their roles fit into wider conflicts of the 1970s. The filmmakers let veterans, witnesses, and archival records speak, creating a mosaic of personal testimony and public record. The film stays observational rather than judgmental, offering material that prompts questions about responsibility, recruitment, and the political contexts that made mercenary work possible, while avoiding dramatic reconstruction or invented scenes.

Released in 1976, the film was directed by Gerhard Scheumann and Walter Heynowski. It presents original documentary material rather than adapting a book or novel, and it arrived during a decade rife with debates about mercenaries and international interventions.

There are no widely recorded major awards or international festival prizes associated with this title. It seems to have circulated mainly within specialized documentary and political film venues rather than mainstream award circuits.

As a historical record, the film contributes to conversations about private soldiers and postwar German identity. It provides concrete examples and testimony that researchers and students of military history still reference when assessing how pay, ideology, and opportunity drew individuals into foreign conflicts during the Cold War era.

Critics and viewers who encounter the film often note its emphasis on testimony and archival evidence, and its avoidance of dramatic embellishment. The film raises ethical and political questions about accountability, the commercialization of violence, and how societies remember or forget those who fight outside official armed forces, making it useful for classroom discussion and thematic screenings.