Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned the "hate" shown by German extreme-right supporters towards asylum seekers in the Saxon town of Heidenau and around the country.
The arrival of 250 refugees to emergency accommodation at the weekend in Heidenau, near Dresden, prompted a weekend riot between far-right hooligans and police.
Some 30 officers were injured in two nights of violence, just one of many flash points as Germany struggles to cope with the 800,000 refugees forecast to arrive this year.
Around the country, but particularly in the former east, temporary lodgings have been picketed and, in many cases, set alight.
The charged atmosphere was clear when the German leader, after days of hesitation, arrived in Heidenau to jeers of “traitor” and a chorus of car horns. Ignoring the protesters, the German leader thanked volunteers in the town for helping those in need.
“It is shameful and abhorrent what we’ve had to experience,” said Dr Merkel on her visit the asylum facility in a disused DIY store. “Treating each person who comes to us with dignity is part of our self-image of what defines Germany.”
On Monday deputy chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), visited Heidenau and condemned the protestors as a "mob".
That remark sparked a furious online reaction, a flood of hate-mail and a bomb threat on Tuesday to the SPD party headquarters in Berlin.
As Dr Merkel arrived in Heidenau, a crowd of around 200 people assembled nearby shouting “we are the mob”.
At the same time, President Joachim Gauck visited emergency accommodation in the former town hall of Berlin'S Wilmersdorf district.
Praised volunteers
Mr Gauck praised volunteers assisting in the facility for “showing there is a bright Germany that stands in contrast to the dark Germany we hear of with attacks on accommodation or xenophobic assaults”.
Many of the 530 residents in the ex-town hall turned out to greet the German head of state, who shook hands and posed with them for pictures.
"I was in a boat from Egypt for seven days before we reached Italy, " said Hassan from Syria. "It took two days by train to reach Berlin, I only hope I can stay here now."
Meanwhile Berlin has announced it has suspended the so-called Dublin rules for Syrian asylum-seekers and will no longer be sending them back to their country of first entry into the EU.
German officials said it was an effort to simplify the asylum process for those fleeing the Syrian civil war. A European Commission spokeswoman said Berlin's move was "recognition of the fact that we cannot leave the member states at the external borders alone in dealing with a large number of asylum-seekers".
