BYK, EMIL:
Austrian lawyer and deputy; born Jan. 14, 1845, at Janow, near Trembowla, in Galicia.
In 1885 Byk was chosen chairman of the charity committee of the Cultusrath of Lemberg, and is now (1902) president of the Jewish community there; in 1890 he was a "Stadtverordneter" and president of the Shomer Israel Society; in 1891 he was elected to represent Brody and Zloczow in the Reichsrath; and he was reelected at every subsequent election. Byk has served on several important committees of the Reichsrath, such as the Volkswirthschaftsausschuss and Justizausschuss. Some of his more important speeches in that body are: an address in 1893 against Prince Lichtenstein on the establishment of a Jewish theological seminary; an address, May 4, 1898. against the proposition that the sittings of the commitiee to consider the charges against ex-Prime Minister Badeni should be public; and a stirring address, Nov. 24, 1898), on the "Ausnahmszustand" in Galicia, which was very well received. Byk is prominentin the legal profession, and takes a leading part in Jewish affairs not only in Lemberg but in Galicia generally.
- Bloch, Oest. Wochenschrift, 1886, No. 1; 1894, No. 37; 1900, No. 43;
- Stenographische Protokolle des Abgeordnetenhauses, 1898, 1899, Index.
