My research has revealed a new relative (by marriage) that immigrated to New York from Poland in 1921.  Shortly after, he filled out a Declaration of Intention, stating that he was divorced, and had 3 grown children who were either in NY already or would be joining him shortly (all born in Warsaw).  In 1927, his petition once again claimed he was divorced, yet on the 1930 census, he declared he was married and was living with his 3 children.  His wife is my interest, as she is the relation to my family.  I don't think she ever came to the U.S.  I never came across divorce before in Poland and just wanted to confirm it did happen.  And ask if there is anything I can do to further research the wife that was left by her family?

Thanks,
Wendy Newman
researching Edelstein, Nudelman

Wendy, you don't mention whether you've checked the JRI-Poland database for marriage, divorce or birth records for them. That would be my first thought. Good luck.
Also, the census taker may have assumed he was married at that time, or your relative didn't want to say he was divorced.
Harvey Kabaker

Divorce in Poland? Absolutely, it happened. In addition to following Harvey Kabaker's great suggestion previously in this thread, read more at <https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Marriage>.

Wendy -
Any divorce in Poland would probably occur in a religious setting like the marriage itself. The Rabbi would give a Gett. It’s possible that to avoid the “shame” of being divorced, it might not be announced on public records. However it would definitely be recorded by the Rabbi and the new marriage record would probably mention it.

When looking for the first wife, make sure to look for her under the surnames of both her parents. Their marriage would probably not be recognized if it wasn’t registered civilly.
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Shelley Mitchell 
NYC
searching KONIGSBERG/KINIGSBERG, TERNER, MOLDAUER, SCHONFELD - Kolomyya PLATZ - DELATYN. All Galicia.

I have just been indexing records from Brzeziny for the early 1920s, and have come across several divorce records that are tucked in with the marriage records to which they refer. I am not sure that was true of all towns or all years, but that is how it was done in Brzeziny at a certain time.

Fay Bussgang

As someone who has been taking oral histories for 43 years, I think better ways to understand a statement like "nobody got divorced" are "nobody I knew of got divorced" or "I never heard of anybody getting divorced" or "I was told that nobody got divorced." The speaker is usually being honest, to the best of their capacity, but they are not omniscient. Examination of written records or obtaining other oral histories often documents that blanket memories using a term like "nobody" might well be based on general patterns and customs, but are not absolutely true.

My 4th great grandfather, a rabbi in central Poland in the mid 19th century, was clearly divorced from his first wife. Though I never found divorce records or reference to the divorce, town records clearly show that he had many children with a second wife (given that he was a rabbi, I assume they were absolutely religiously married and that he had a "get" from his first wife).  Also, I did find a death record for the first wife, well after the period of the second marriage and the births of the children with the second wife. She reverted to her maiden name in public records.

Oddly, one of his sons and some of his grandsons were also divorced. I don't know whether this was because the concept of divorce was more acceptable or whether this family may have had a wider rift with other families in the town. 

Then again, in some of my other branches I also have over 100 years of records, and not one divorce.

Chae-Ran Freeze wrote an excellent book on Jewish marriage and divorce in the Russian Empire, and though the book didn't include much of "Congress Poland," a number of the reasons for divorce may have been  common over a wider geography (everything from religious differences to falling out of love).  

It is my understanding that the decision to give a get was the husband’s. A wife might ask for one but she usually needed her husband’s consent.

As more European Jews came to the US, husbands often used the threat of refusing to give a get in order to get a very favorable civil divorce settlement. Over time, in places like NY, judges had to deal with that Jewish issue. I believe they ordered men to give their wives a get. Without a get, a religious woman could not remarry in the eyes of the community.
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Shelley Mitchell 
NYC
searching KONIGSBERG/KINIGSBERG, TERNER, MOLDAUER, SCHONFELD - Kolomyya PLATZ - DELATYN. All Galicia.