Grossmann was born on 14 April 1881 in Cracow and died on 24 November 1950 in Leipzig. He studied in Cracow and lived from 1908 to 1918 in Vienna (collaborating with Carl Grünberg) and 1918 to 1925 in Warsaw (at the Central Statistical office and the Free University). From 1925 to 1933 he was a political refugee in Germany (University of Frankfurt/Main) and later in France, England and USA. Grossman spent his last years in the German Democratic Republic, at the University of Leipzig.