Originally it was a rectory of the Parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel. In the second half of the 19th c. the building was confiscated from the Catholic Church by the Russian authorities. Later it was given to the Jewish Community and served as an orphanage for Jewish children (‘the Shelter’) and a nursing home for elderly and disabled Jews.

On 24th March 1942 during the liquidation of the ghetto, the Nazis executed all the children, old patients and the staff of the Shelter.

Presently the building hosts the Youth Culture Centre ‘Under the Acacia’.