The Bitėnai village is divided by the Bitė Stream (a right tributary of the Nemunas River) into two parts, essentially forming two separate villages: Šilėnai (located near the forest, a large Bitėnai forest massif) and Užbičiai (the village located beyond the Bitė Stream). Each of these village parts had its own cemetery: Bitėnai-Užbičiai and Bitėnai-Šilėnai.
The Bitėnai-Šilėnai Cemetery was established at the edge of the forest. During the Soviet era, like many cemeteries in the region, it was heavily damaged. Specifically, treasure hunters sought Napoleon's treasure here, as one of three markers supposedly indicating the treasure's location was believed to be on the site. As a result, in 1974, a state-level treasure search was organized, during which a 10-meter-deep pit was excavated, severely desecrating much of the cemetery.
Today, the cemetery is home to two impressive oak trees with diameters of 4.1 and 3.1 meters. Thanks to the initiative and funds of Eva Jankus-Gerola (née Ieva Jankutė), the granddaughter of the printer and public figure Martynas Jankus, the cemetery was restored in 2010. A sculpture by Algirdas Bosas, titled "In Memory of the Prussian Lithuanians," stands there.
In 2014, Eva Jankus-Gerola was laid to rest in the Bitėnai-Šilėnai Cemetery alongside her ancestors. Her entire maternal family, the Kerkojai, who lived in Bitėnai-Šilėnai, are also buried there.
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