W artykule przedstawiono, jak rozwijała się i nabrała charakteru legendy historia austriackiego arcyksięcia Wilhelma von Habsburga, znanego jako pułkownik Wasyl Wyszywany, który zdecydował się zmienić własną tożsamość narodową i wybrał wizerunek bojownika o wolność Ukrainy. Ukazano, w jaki sposób ewoluował obraz samego bohatera: od poznania okoliczności zmiany tożsamości narodowej do badania motywów tego kroku. Na podstawie źródeł pochodzenia osobistego i materiałów historiograficznych powstałych w XX w. pokazano, w jaki sposób konstruowano historiograficzny wizerunek tej postaci.

The purpose of the research – is to demonstrate how the historiographic image of Wilhelm von Habsburg, known as Colonel Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, was constructed on the basis of sources of personal origin and historiography materials that were deposited during the XX century. In the first time in historiography shown as the as the story of the Austrian archduke, who decided to change his national identity and chose for himself the image of a fighter for the will of Ukraine, unfolded and mythologized. The history of the life of the Austrian Archduke Wilhelm von Habsburg-Lötringen has in recent years been enriched by a number of thorough studies. The main issue of this research was the question of choosing a Ukrainian national identity. The construction of the Ukrainian legend Vasyl Vyshyvany in the historiography began, based on his own autobiography. As the accumulation of source and scientific material, the question of the vision of the hero evolved: from explaining the circumstances of change of national self-identification to exploring the motives of this step. Changes in the interpretation of this issue were also outlined and brought to the cultural and philosophical research field.