The theme of this article is the evolution of the Polish national emblem. Without knowledge of the genesis and history of this national symbol, it is difficult to understand the value of education in terms of nationality and the sense of national unity. Appearance, shape, colour evolved due to the political centrifugation in the country, but always and invariably meant Poland as the home of those who lived in the country and emigrated.

The role of anthems in the process of forming Central European national identities based on the book by Csaba G. Kiss

Csaba G. Kiss, using comparative analysis, has not only attempted to uncover the corpus of dominant motifs in national songs, but has also indicated how their selection was influenced by historical events and the traditions of individual communities. Particularly noteworthy are the sections of the work where the links between the songs produced in different national communities are presented, both in terms of their forms and content. On the other hand, what can draw exceptional admiration is the enormous erudition of the author of The Anthems of East-Central Europe, who in his investigations referred not only to the literature in the languages of the conference, but also made extensive use of Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Romanian and - understandably because of his origin – Hungarian studies. Minor errors of a factual nature are somewhat surprising, such as the attribution to Alexander I the paternity of Grand Duke Constantine, commander-in-chief of the Polish army and the actual governor of Congress Poland from 1815 to 1830. The book under review can be considered a highly successful example of the use of comparative analysis in research dedicated to the emergence of national identity in Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.