Margaretha Bencker was born during the Thirty Year War, her daughter Margaretha Dietel six years after the peace treaty. Both women lived in times of destruction, hardship and poverty. Karl Dietel, a local historian für Münchberg and the Münchberg area describes the Situation back then:

Shortly before the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, on March 8, 1617, a major fire completely destroyed 48 houses, the rectory and both Diakonatsgebäude in the town of Münchberg. Shortly after the fire, the 30-year war began, leaving the town inhabitants no time to recover from this calamity. Even though the Principality of Bayreuth and Münchberg were spared during the first years of the war by a declaration of neutrality by Margrave Christian, foreign troops soon passed through the area, disregarding the declaration of neutrality and demanding to be quartered in the city several times. In order to protect the population from encroachments, 200 inhabitants from a military association (committee).

On April 1, 1631, there was another fire disaster in Münchhausen, this time burning down the church, the rectory, the school, the town hall, 96 private houses and 17 barns. In the same year, the declaration of neutrality was abolished by Margrave Christian and Bayreuth entered the war on the part of the Swedes. As a result, various conflict parties moved through the heavily destroyed Münchberg. The place suffered equally from opponents and allies alike. Again and again reports of robbery, murder and billeting were reported. Especially the year 1633 was considered as a year of horror, when large parts of the principality were controlled by imperial troops. To make matters worse,  the plague killed 330 inhabitants of the parish.

In 1635 there was a short period of rest. Margrave Christian joined the peace of Prague and the alliance with the Swedes was terminated. In a list compiled by the Hauptmannschaft Hof dating September 1635, Münchberg lists 40 widows with 61 children, 56 orphans, 98 burnt down houses and 72 abandoned farms, houses and farmsteads. In 1636 the war flared up again with even more billeting, looting and other atrocities.

In 1648 the Thirty Years' War finally ended with the Peace of Westphalia. The contractual provision the treaty obliged the Principality of Bayreuth to pay 37,000 Reichstaler to the Swedes. For Münchberg, this meant that five Reichstaler had to be paid per 100 guilders of taxable wealth. This payback lead to even more hardship in Münchsberg, as large parts of the city were still in ruins due to the two devastating fires. The city took decades to recover from war damage, city fires and plague. On October 27, 1679 the government issued an edict to promote reconstruction with tax breaks and reduced prices for building materials to alleviate the hardship and trigger economic growth.