The 23rd SS-Standarte was a regimental formation of the Allgemeine-SS located in the region of Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

. Due to its geographical location, the 23rd SS-Standarte is best known for existing as an General-SS counterpart command

SS command of Auschwitz concentration camp

The SS command of Auschwitz concentration camp refers to those units, commands, and agencies of the German SS which operated and administered the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II; it is not a list of all personnel who served at Auschwitz, but does include those in command positions...

 for Waffen-SS

Waffen-SS

The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...

 and SS-TV

SS-Totenkopfverbände

SS-Totenkopfverbände , meaning "Death's-Head Units", was the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich....

 personnel assigned to Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Auschwitz concentration camp

Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...

.

The Standarte first encompassed administrative control of Auschwitz personnel in 1943, after a territorial command change occurred from the authority of the General Government

General Government

The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...

 to that of the Gauleiter

Gauleiter

A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...

 of Upper Silesia. Due to the practice of SS members holding in fact two separate SS ranks

Uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel

The uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel were paramilitary ranks and uniforms used by the SS between 1925 and 1945 to differentiate that organization from the regular German armed forces, the German state, and the Nazi Party....

 (one in the General-SS and the other in the Waffen-SS), the 23rd Standarte served as a "paperwork command" for personnel considered "cross assigned" between the General and Waffen-SS. This assignment was purely administrative, and many of the Standarten's "members" never formally mustered as a unit or attended Allgemeine-SS meetings.

The 23rd Standarte effectively ceased to exist due to the advance of the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

through Poland in 1944. The command was formally disbanded in May 1945.