Andrei Chikatilo

Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo (??????? ?????????? ?????????) (October 16, 1936–February 14, 1994) was a Soviet serial killer. He was convicted of the murder of fifty-two women and children between 1978 and 1990.

Early life

Chikatilo was born in the Ukrainian village of Yablochnoye in 1936. His childhood was quite traumatic, particularly as the USSR was soon at war with Germany and also Stalin's plans of agricultural collectivisation caused a devastating famine. Chikatilo later heard rumours that he'd had an older brother who died in the famine and had been cannibalised by starving neighbors. Although it is not known if this story was true, there certainly were many documented cases of cannibalism during the famine. In World War II, Chikatilo witnessed some of the devastating and bloody effects of German bombing raids. Chikatilo had many fantasies of leading German captives into the woods and executing them, a fantasy that—although common of Soviet children at the time—had parallels with his murders.

Related Topics:
Ukrainian - USSR - Germany - Stalin - Collectivisation - Cannibalised - World War II

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Chikatilo's mother was a brutal woman. With his father at war, the young Andrei had to share a bed with his mother. He frequently wet the bed, for which he was badly beaten and humiliated. He did well at school but failed the entrance exam for Moscow State University. After finishing national service in 1960, he moved to Rodionovo-Nesvetayevsky and worked as a telephone engineer. Chikatilo's only sexual experience in adolescence was when, aged 15, he leapt on a young girl and wrestled her to the ground, ejaculating as the girl struggled in his grip. It fostered him a lifelong association between sex and violently overpowering someone.

Related Topics:
Moscow State University - 1960

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He married in 1963, the marriage virtually arranged by Andrei's younger sister who set him up with one of her friends when she took pity on her brother's inability to obtain a girlfriend. Although he suffered from impotence, and had a barely existent sex-life, Chikatilo did father a son and daughter. In 1971, he completed a degree in Russian literature by a correspondence course and tried a career as a teacher in Novoshakhtinsk. He was a poor teacher, unable to command any respect from his pupils, but he remained in that profession, moving from school to school as complaints of indecent assaults dogged him. He eventually took a job as a clerk for a factory, and he used the many business trips around the Soviet Union to carry out his crimes.

Related Topics:
1963 - Impotence - 1971 - Literature - Novoshakhtinsk

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