Genealogy / Are Any Birth Records Kept from "Poland" in the 1800's [9]

I know that theoretically speaking, for various political reasons, Poland wasn't Poland in the 1800's but my grandparents were born there in the late 19th century and they are a mystery to me. I just read a thread here that blew me away because it was about my ancestors, written by what appears to be their great-great grandson. It gave me more clues than I've had in my entire 50 years of life. From what I do know of my grandparents, he was absolutely talking about my family but just the fact that I don't even know who this person is, is an illustration of the mystery of my family. I would like to look up my grandparents' birth records but I suspect they don't exist. I know that my grandmother was a peasant; her father was a Forest Ranger. I am guessing that my grandfather was wealthy because he was highly educated and my mother tells me he studied law but didn't finish. A family friend who is a historian specializing in that region told me that in the 1800's only aristocrats were entitled to a college education. My grandparents met in the US so I can only speculate that his education was interrupted due to some crisis and he absolutely refused to discuss his past so nobody ever knew. I also find it odd that an educated man who spoke between 5 and 7 languages chose to come to the US to become a farmer and marry a completely illiterate woman. From what I understand, he was offered a job at the League of Nations (now the United Nations) and turned it down. I have always had a need to solve the mystery of who he is. Can anyone enlighten me as to whether or not records might have been kept and if so, would they have lived through two world wars?