Editing Andrei Chikatilo (section)

===Childhood===
Andrei Chikatilo{{refn|group=n|Chikatilo's first name is also [[WP:RUS|transliterated]] as '''Andrey'''.}} was born on 16 October 1936 in the village of Yabluchne {{small|[<nowiki/>[[:uk:Яблучне (Великописарівський район)|uk]]<nowiki/>]}} in the [[Sumy Oblast]] of the Ukrainian SSR. At the time of his birth, Ukraine was recovering from a [[Holodomor|severe famine]] caused by [[Joseph Stalin]]'s forced [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization]] of agriculture.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=212}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/andre-chikatilo-the-rostov-ripper/biography.html|title=Andrei Chikatilo: The Rostov Ripper|website=crimeandinvestigation.co.uk|date=29 September 2009|access-date=19 April 2019|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130063046/http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/andre-chikatilo-the-rostov-ripper/biography.html|archive-date=30 January 2010 }}</ref> Chikatilo's parents were both [[Collective farming#Communist collectivization|collective farm]] labourers who lived in a one-room hut.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=207}} They received no wages for their work, but instead received the right to cultivate a plot of land behind the family hut.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=262}}

The family rarely had sufficient food; Chikatilo himself later claimed not to have eaten bread until the age of 12,{{sfn|Krivich|1993|p=141}} adding that he and his family often had to eat grass and leaves in an effort to stave off hunger.{{sfn|Krivich|1993|p=143}} Throughout his childhood, Chikatilo was repeatedly told by his mother Anna that prior to his birth, an older brother of his named Stepan had, at the age of four, been kidnapped and [[human cannibalism|cannibalized]] by starving neighbours,<ref name="CanberaTimes">{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126949436|title='Rostov Ripper' to be Shot|newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=16 October 1992|access-date=9 February 2022}}</ref> although it has never been established whether this incident actually occurred, or if a Stepan Chikatilo even existed.<ref name="news.google.com">{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1309&dat=19920420&id=JMFUAAAAIBAJ&pg=4499,3916322|title=Russian Serial Killer 'Had a Disturbed Past'|newspaper=[[New Straits Times]]|date=20 April 1992|access-date=25 July 2016}}</ref>{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=212}} Nonetheless, Chikatilo recalled his childhood as being blighted by poverty, ridicule, hunger, and war.<ref name="news.google.com"/>

When the [[Soviet Union]] entered the [[Second World War]], Chikatilo's father, Roman, was [[conscription|conscripted]] into the [[Red Army]]. He would later be taken prisoner after being wounded in combat.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|pp=133–134}} Between 1941 and 1944, Chikatilo witnessed some of the effects of the [[Reichskommissariat Ukraine|Nazi occupation of Ukraine]], which he described as "horrors", adding he witnessed bombings, fires, and shootings from which he and his mother would hide in cellars and ditches.{{sfn|Krivich|1993|p=113}} On one occasion, Chikatilo and his mother were forced to watch their own hut burn to the ground.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=262}} With his father at war, Chikatilo and his mother shared a single bed. He was a [[Nocturnal enuresis|chronic bed wetter]], and his mother berated and beat him for each offence.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=213}}

In 1943, Chikatilo's mother gave birth to a baby girl, Tatyana. Because Chikatilo's father had been conscripted in 1941, he could not have fathered this child. As many Ukrainian women were [[War crimes of the Wehrmacht#Rape|raped by German soldiers]] during the war, it has been speculated Tatyana was conceived as a result of a rape committed by a German soldier. As Chikatilo and his mother lived in a one-room hut, this rape may have been committed in Chikatilo's presence.{{sfn|Kalman|2014|p=180}}

In September 1944,{{sfn|Krivich|1993|p=143}} Chikatilo began his schooling. Although shy and ardently studious as a child, he was physically weak and regularly attended school in homespun clothing. His stomach was often swollen from hunger resulting from the [[Soviet famine of 1946–47|post-war famine]] which plagued much of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Krivich|1993|p=143}} On several occasions, this hunger caused Chikatilo to faint both at home and school,{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=262}} and he was consistently targeted by bullies who regularly mocked him over his physical stature and timid nature.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|pp=214–215}} At home, Chikatilo and his sister were constantly berated by their mother. Tatyana later recalled that despite the hardships endured by her parents, their father was a kind man, whereas their mother was harsh and unforgiving toward her children.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|p=213}}

Chikatilo developed a passion for reading and memorizing data. He often studied at home, both to increase his sense of self-worth and to compensate for his [[myopia]], which often prevented him from reading the classroom blackboard. To his teachers, Chikatilo was an excellent student upon whom they would regularly bestow praise and commendation.{{sfn|Cullen|1994|pp=262–263}}