MUNICH — Germans waving welcome signs in German, English and Arabic came to the train station here Saturday to greet the first group of what is expected to be about 8,000 migrants to arrive in Germany by early Sunday, after an arduous and emotional journey through Hungary and Austria.

Germans applauded and volunteers offered hot tea, food and toys as about 450 migrants arrived on a special train service from Austria, finally reaching Germany, which had held out an open hand to them.

“Thank you, Germany,” said one woman from the Kurdish part of northern Iraq who said she had been on the road for a month and a half with her two children. A German volunteer, Silvia Reinschmiedt, who runs a local school, could not stay at home. “I said to myself, I have to do something,” she said as she handed out warm drinks.