In 1933 began a history of Kulautuva as the first official resort in newly independent Lithuania. However, this town between the pine forests is already mentioned in the sources of the 19th century. But during the interwar period, it put itself on the map – Kulautuva became one of the main competitors with Palanga. Kulautuva was a summer leisure destination for Lithuanian citizens even before it was officially declared as a resort.  In 1929 the first sanatorium “Rest” was opened in Kulautuva, and it was owned by local Jewish man Ovsiej Portnov. There were famous pine, salt, and oxygen baths in this sanatorium, and soon foreign vacationers started to come to Kulautuva as well. New business began to open up in Kulautuva in the 1930s – cinema theatre, casino, photo-atelier. In 1935 Roman Polovinsky opened a luxurious hotel “Vita”, which had a tennis court, casino, and restaurant. The building of “Vita” is changed but extant to this day, You can visit it on Poilsis street no. 5.

During the interwar period, local Jews in Kulautuva constituted more than 60 percent of the local population, and most summer vacationers in the town were Lithuanian Jews as well. So it is quite strange, that the local Jewish community built a synagogue in Kulautuva relatively late – only in 1935. Before that religious Jews used to gather for common prayers in an outside restaurant owned by Lidija Fugelevičiūtė. The new wooden synagogue building distinguished not only from other local buildings, its exterior was very different from other wooden synagogues in Lithuania. Unfortunately, this unique architectural project by I. Trakman was used as a storage house after the Second World War. Later the building was reconstructed and turned into a cultural house with a library on the first floor. In 2016 due to its poor condition, the building was demolished.