social norms of family life in Poland to gain clarity. Is it normal for men to abandon their children and completely dismiss their life
I'd say it isn't "normal" as in it isn't socially accepted (although it is considered to be more "normal" than a mother abandoning a child), but it isn't uncommon. My uncle is like that, for example. We found out that he was married before he married my aunt and that he has kids from that previous marriage only after he went to prison for not paying alimonies O_O Even after he left prison he never mentioned his kids with even one word and it doesn't seem like he ever visits them (he has two kids now with my aunt). I don't know how one can completely discard their own children like that, as if they never existed...
But it does happen and I've heard quite a few stories about men abandoning their kids (not only their wife). Single mothers constitute 19.4% of Polish families - it's one of the highest numbers in Europe (higher number is only in Latvia - 29.1%, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovakia).
Polands most famous and celebrated musicians abandoned the son we have together.
I've never heard of him, tbh.