How pain becomes common? Cultural trauma as a process

The article reviews the process and peculiarities of the transition of personal trauma into cultural one. The diaries of inhabitants of the besieged Leningrad became the source for the research. The ideas by Ron Eyerman and other representatives of the sociological approach to the study of cultural trauma were used as a theoretical framework. The analysis showed that the main factors of personal trauma transition to cultural one were the time distance, the appropriate representation in mass media, the presence of emotional involvement in the traumatic event and the community's needs in solidarity.