Arthur Lewin came from Schwetz an der Oder, his wife Elise Engel from Schönlanke in the Netzkreis district. It is documented that Arthur and Elise Lewin settled in Schivelbein in the Pomeranian hinterland in 1908 at the latest.Probably even earlier, because on February 11, 1909, they announced in the Schivelbeiner Kreiszeitung the „closing of the seasonal clearance sale“ the winter sale –. They had opened a shop for textiles and manufactured goods in a prime location on the market square and moved into the apartment above.

Šiauliai was once a predominantly Jewish town and a center of the leather industry with a global reputation.

At the age of just 25, Chaim Fraenkel's leather factory dominated the town.

In 1907, Chaim Fraenkel built a two-storey brick synagogue next to the factory in place of the former wooden church. On the second floor of the building there were rooms for men, on the second floor rooms for women. In the basement there was an apartment for the synagogue servant, who maintained and guarded the building. The synagogue was intended for the factory workers, but Jews from the surrounding neighborhoods gathered here on holidays.

The synagogue had a ten-metre-high dome, as well as two smaller decorative domes on the sides and above the side halls. The large dome was supported by several columns made of steel and concrete. It combined different architectural styles, but mainly a neo-Gothic and Byzantine style was used.

The synagogue at 9 Smilgos Street in Kėdainiai, today known as the „Synagogue on Smilgos Street” (lit. Smilgos g. sinagoga), was built in the mid-19th century thanks to a donation from the wealthy shoemaker Elijas Wilner (also known as Ilija Vilneris). It is a brick building in the classicist style on a rectangular floor plan. The synagogue had an exclusive character and was intended for wealthy craftsmen. It consisted of a one-storey section, which took up two-thirds of the building, where the men prayed, and a two-storey section, where the women's room was located.

Large and well-preserved cemetery, oldest grave ca. 1860, ca. 600 graves.

Located on one of the hills with a view over the Memel, today unpaved, less than 30 graves spread over a grassy area.

The Jewish cemetery was probably laid out in the middle of the 19th century on an area of 0.41 hectares about three kilometers outside the town of Schivelbein. It is surrounded by a wall and divided into quarters by lime tree alleys. At the back are the remains of the foundations of the mortuary. Around 500 people are said to have been buried here and around 60 matzevot have been preserved. Many of the gravestones have German inscriptions on one side and Hebrew inscriptions on the other. The cemetery was destroyed during the Reichspogromnacht.

The cemetery survived the Second World War almost unscathed. Destruction and vandalism began in 1945 and continue to this day (graffiti). The mourning halls became car repair shops that encircle the well-preserved administration building at the entrance. Ten upright stones, 36 horizontal stones, the broken pieces of 36 others and the frames of 92 gravestones have been preserved. The cemetery has been a protected cultural monument since 2006 and the grounds are maintained.