"Where we can contribute to maintaining peace or alleviating suffering so that we can build a better future, then we should do everything in our power to do so," Deutsche Welle quoted Gauck as saying.
The president added that he was encouraged by the fact that "The great majority of us do not follow those who want to seal off Germany."
Earlier on Wednesday, the German Federal Foreign Office posted on Twitter that the country's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also welcomed protests against the Pegida group, who oppose the "Islamization of the West".
#Steinmeier welcomes anti-#pegida protests: Vast majority of Germans believes that people fleeing civil war should find refuge with us. 1/2
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) December 24, 2014
#Steinmeier: I understand that the disorder in this world scares many people. But the answer cannot be isolation+anti-foreign propoganda.2/2
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) December 24, 2014
On Monday, the right-wing group Pegida organized a demonstration in the city of Dresden, which gathered a record number of 17,000 people. The demonstration was the largest of a number of protests held over the past ten weeks.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several other officials have also condemned the Pegida group.
