Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday called on Germans to welcome thousands of Syrian refugees due to begin arriving next month, as a new political refugee center in Berlin stokes anti-foreigner sentiment.

Germany announced earlier in the year that it was ready to take in another 5,000 Syrians seeking refuge from the war-torn country.

"I ask people in Germany to welcome them here since everyone knows what they have been through," Merkel told the Mittelbayerische Zeitung daily in an interview.

"Germany is standing by the refugees as best it can," she said.