"We want to help. Our heart is big. However, our capabilities are finite. Our capacity is limited, even if it is not yet identified where those limits lie," Gauck said in a speech on Sunday, as quoted by the German newspaper Die Welt.
Gauck warned of tensions between newcomers and those who have been living in Germany for a long time, stressing that any refugee who seeks to continue conflicts from their countries of origin on German soil would be considered a fundamentalist and dealt with accordingly.
Earlier in September, EU ministers in Brussels approved a plan to redistribute some 120,000 refugees throughout the bloc according to a mandatory quota system proposed by the European Commission.
According to German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, up to one million asylum claims are expected to be lodged in the country by the end of 2015.
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