Alternative Administration (Administracja Zastępcza, AZ) - the underground network of civil administration of the Polish Underground State which was being formed from March 1940, initially jointly by ZWZ (Związek Walki Zbrojnej - English: Union of Armed Struggle) and political factors (Polityczny Komitet Porozumiewawczy - English: Political Consultive Committee - later Delegatura Rządu RP na Kraj; English: the Government Delegation for Poland), and from March 1941 simultaneously by the Government Delegation and ZWZ-AK.

The aim of AZ was to ensure the functioning of the state administration during the public uprising  and in the initial phase of the rebirth of the state. Organised by the Government Delegation, the AZ network reproduced all the levels of the administrative structure from before 1939 departments at central, provincial and county levels). It had a similar structure to the militarised administration (military offices of the Home Army AK) initiated by general Stefan Rowecki.

Thus, in 1943 both apparatuses were merged and subordinated to the Government Delegate. From 1944, AZ was considered the interim government administration (Polish: Tymczasowa Administracja Rządowa); its appearing cells — according to the recommendations of the Polish government — were liquidated by the Soviet military authorities during the liberation of the country (“Burza”), and its members were usually interned to the USSR.

The content of this entry has been prepared on the basis of the source materials of the Polish Scientific Publishers PWN.