In 1749 in the city of Vilna (today Vilnius), Duke Valentine Pototzki, the Ger Tzedek (Righteous Convert), was burned at the stake Al Kiddush HaShem -- for refusing to renounce his conversion to the Jewish faith.

When I was a young boy, my late father used to read to me in Yiddish the story of the Ger Tzeddek, whom he called "Graf Pototzki."

I will never forget the deep reverence that my father ע"ה expressed while referring to Graf Pototzki. I have since learned that this adoration of the Ger Tzedek was universal among Jews from ALL parts of pre-war Eastern Europe -- not just Jews (like my father) who were from the area around Vilna.