Since the 16th century both Rabbinical Jews and Karaite Jews communities have settled in Žiežmariai.  However, gradually Karaites left the town and Rabbinical Jews remained the only non-Christian minority in Žiežmariai. During the interwar period, there have been secular Jewish school, theatre, and Maccabi club in Žiežmariai shtetl. A large and active Jewish community could not have existed without prayer house – already in the middle of the 19th century, the first wooden synagogue has been built in town. Although the synagogue has suffered from several fires, each time it has been rebuilt and after the Second World War, it was used as a storage house.