Katten's Sponsorship of 'Safe Haven' Exhibit Has Personal Connection for Partner Mark Grossmann

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and citybiz both prominently featured images of the Katten-sponsored art exhibit, “Shanghai: Safe Haven During the Holocaust.”

Running through September 5 at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, the exhibit explores the plight of European Jews who found refuge in Shanghai, China. The exhibit features artifacts and documentary photographs by Arthur Rothstein, who in 1946 began documenting the lives of Jewish refugees who created a home in what is now Shanghai’s Hongkew District.

The Law Bulletin and citybiz noted Katten’s sponsorship and the sponsorship of Mark Grossmann, who spoke during the exhibit’s opening. Mark’s great-grandparents Heymann and Else Grossmann were among the more than 20,000 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution during World War II.  

During the opening, Mark explained the exhibit’s timeliness. “As race-related hate crimes have increased in America, this Shanghai exhibit is well timed,” he said. “There are lessons to be learned here. People showing love for others who are different. Shanghai welcomed Jewish refugees at a time when nearly no other place would.”

The Skokie exhibit’s genesis began with a business trip Mark made with CEO Noah Heller in 2016 to visit the firm’s then-new Shanghai office. Thanks to a small-world connection through the office’s manager Carol Wang, he was introduced to the manager of the Shanghai Jewish Refugees museum, planned a visit and began making plans for a US-based exhibit during subsequent trips.