Meet Aron, a Holocaust survivor, through the eyes of Alex Teplish, the grandson, creator and author of the book and the virtual museum Survivor: Aron’s story.

The story

Aron considered himself a typical Jewish-Soviet boy, getting along with his Russian and Ukrainian neighbours while growing up in multicultural Odessa of the 1930’s. As the 40’s approached, Nazi Germany began its march across Europe. Living through the Odessa Massacre, Aron, his two brothers, sister, and parents were expelled from their home city, struggling to survive the Holocaust perpetrated by the German and Romanian Army along with their local collaborators.

With a career in innovation and technology management, Alex Teplish, wanted to recreate the vivid Holocaust experience of his grandfather, Aron. Then, an interactive virtual gallery became a vision.


Many of the events from Aron’s life presented in the book and museum have been translated from his interview to the Shoah Foundation, founded by Steven Spielberg.

When vision meets reality
The author, Alex Teplish, was searching for a solution that could combine his love for art, science, history and technology to virtually narrate the story of his grandfather, Aron. Then he stumbled across iStaging. Curious about the possibilities with iStaging, he attends the all-in-one training session course to explore further.

The user-friendliness of the software and the drag-and-drop functionality were characteristics that attracted Alex the most.

The virtual museum creator mentioned, “I like iStaging because of the user-friendly interface, the wide range of features, and the attentiveness of the company to assist.” At that time, the interactive virtual gallery started becoming a reality for Alex and bringing him a step closer to the fulfilment of his vision.

From a book to a virtual museum

Alongside his book/graphic memoir, Survivor: Aron's Story, which is the true story of his grandfather's life and survival during WWII and the Holocaust, he has also hosted multimedia presentations for a variety of groups. Alex has now adapted this content to create a virtual interactive museum.

Alex said, “The virtual museum allows people from all over the world to explore and learn about this important time in history in an immersive and engaging way”.


The virtual museum illustrates the Holocaust story of Aron. Multimedia such as images and videos are used to narrate the story in an engaging and interactive way.

The response to the Metaverse: “Now I can see it”

When Alex was asked about the Metaverse, he responded, “Now that I've had a chance to create my own project on the iStaging platform, I can see a vast range of use cases for the metaverse and virtual technology applied to most industries. With the new generations of users also having been gamers at some point in their lives, this technology provides a fun and engaging way of interacting with content.”

Who needs a virtual museum/virtual gallery?

Hosting an exhibition or a book launch can become expensive and troublesome. While a virtual museum is a versatile solution, which can bring creators a step closer to their readers.


Audio, images and videos created an interactive and engaging experience for the virtual museum visitors.

The possibility of hosting a live online session with readers regardless of location, the creation of a fun and engaging experience, and the implementation of a memorabilia store under one URL, can empower the community and allow a direct relationship between the creator and the reader.

Interested in reading more success stories? Read here how iStaging helped a healthcare company to stand out.

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