After the collapse of the East Bloc in 1989, the political and economic changes resulted in significant reductions of industrial activities and thus atmospheric pollution that modified cloud reflectance over and in the lee of the main European emission sources. This impact during a two-decade transition (1981--1999) of atmospheric pollution in Europe, in particular in East Germany and Poland, was studied on the basis of emission data, measured aerosol concentrations, and satellite observations of cloud reflectance. In these main European emission areas the high degree of air pollution generally enhanced variability of cloud reflectance during the 1980s. The variability was strongest for the early 1980s. A distinct influence of increased particle number density and increased black carbon content as well as secondary aerosol formation is detected. Toward the late 1990s, both the radius effect and the absorption effect, as the two components of the so-called first indirect aerosol effect, have declined because of reduced particulate matter and sulphur dioxide emissions. The results indicate a pronounced influence of stability on the indirect aerosol effect over Central Europe. The analyzed frequency distributions of cloud reflectance show characteristics that are in line with the theory of radiative transfer.