Sentence:  As the <WSD>first</WSD> collective confrontation of the Nazi outrage , the Trial of Eichmann represents a recovery of the Jews from the shock of the death camps , a recovery that took fifteen years and which is still by no means complete ( though let no one believe that it could be hastened by silence ) . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  preceding all others in time or space or degree