The House of the Red Army and Navy (DKAF) was a type of cultural and educational institution established in Soviet cities. Its tasks were similar to those of officers’ clubs, but with a strongly pronounced political and propaganda component. Such Houses hosted:
Political training and propaganda among Red Army soldiers, sailors, and commanders.
Cultural leisure: libraries, amateur clubs, lectures, concerts.
Education: literacy campaigns (elimination of illiteracy), political courses.
It was an important instrument of party influence in the army and the navy.
In Odessa, the DKAF was opened in 1923 in a pre-revolutionary mansion at 72 Pushkinskaya Street.
After the campaign against “Trotskyism” in 1927–1928, Trotsky’s name was removed, and the institution continued its work as the House of the Red Army.