Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo was born in October 16, 1936, in the village of Yablochnoye, a part of Ukrainian state of the USSR during Stalin’s regime ( Serial Killers: Unmasked par 2). Ukraine being the “breadbasket” of the Soviet Union, Stalin’s agricultural collectivization polices brought famine and starvation in the village during Chikatilo childhood (McCarthy par 2). He was forced to eat grass and leaves to stay alive, and had not tasted bread till he was 12 (Goss, Gray & Villalvazo par 5-6). Moreover, things worsened when USSR went to war with Germany during WWII, where in 1942 Chikatilo’s father, Roman was drafted to serve in the Red Army, leaving the farm laborer family behind in the crossfire of the German Blitz (Andrei Chikatilo,
