Odette Nemelka and Family, of Genoa, Italy
My name is Odette Anna Nemelka and I live in Italy, in Genoa. My father, Joseph Nemelka, was from Austria. He was born in 1912 and he died in 1993. His father’s name was Joseph Nemelka, too, and he was from Praha (Prague). My grandfather, Joseph, married Rosa Sedelmajer, from Vienna (but I’m not sure about the spelling of her name). I didn’t ever know relatives from my father’s side and I’d be very pleased to know that I have relatives somewhere. My daughter Roberta wrote this for me, because I can’t speak English.
I’m so excited and touched to know about the Nemelka family! I’d like to know where’s my place in the family tree, but my grandfather can’t be the Josef Franz Nemelka who is the brother of Carl. [webmaster’s note: It is possible that her grandfather is Josef Nemelka who is the son of Gregor Nemelka. Gregor is the brother of Carl’s father. US family records show this Josef’s birth date to be 1887, but we have no additional information on his birth month, marriage, or death dates.]
My grandfather was born in 1888 and died in 1939. He was made invalid by World War I. He and his wife, Rosa Sedelmajer, had only one son, my father (Joseph). My grandfather was a photographer, like my father, too, and he traveled a lot: he lived in Corfu (Greece), then in Rome, then he came to Genoa. My father followed him in his travels and every time had to restart school to learn the language. My father was also sent alone to Holland after the war, to get better.
My father had a cousin, from my father’s side, named Erna Pepper; she lived in Chemnitz in East Germany, near Czechoslovakia. My father met my mother, Silvana De Negri, in Genoa and fell in love. As he obtained Italian citizenship, he left for military service and then he was sent to fight in World War II. They got married while separated, while he was at war, on September 7, 1940. I was born after the war, in 1946, on 28th September. I’m the only child.
I studied medicine and I’m a dermatologist. I married my husband, Luigi Alessio, from Reggio Calabria (Italy), in 1974. He is a doctor, too. I have two children: Roberta (who wrote this), 29 years old, and Riccardo, 20 years old.
Roberta graduated with a degree in physics and now she has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering here in Genoa; Riccardo is studying Mechanical Engineering.
Thanks for your interest!
Best regards,
Odette (and Roberta)