Amal And George Clooney Meet Syrian Refugees, Actor Talks His Family’s Refugee Past [Video]

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and her Hollywood heartthrob husband George Clooney met with Syrian refugees in Berlin during their visit to the German capital at Berlin Film Festival in February. The power couple visited Berlin to attend the screening of the 54-year-old actor’s new film “Hail, Caesar!” They lent their ears to the stories of Syrian refugees and raise awareness about the ongoing migration crisis on the fifth anniversary of the Syrian conflict.

During their meet up with the people, one man spoke about being tortured in a political prison. A mother gave a moving account of hiding with her children in their home during a bombardment that she thought would kill them. The meeting was featured in a video released by the International Rescue Committee on Tuesday.

The British-Lebanese lawyer described fleeing the violence in Lebanon with her family in the 1980s and immigrating to Europe. Meanwhile, George said the U.S. should be more accepting of immigrants. “It’s what our country is — is a country of immigrants, and we have not recently done a very good job of remembering who we are,” the actor said.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are 4.8 million registered Syrian refugees in regions neighboring the country. The “Monuments Men” actor said that it was very easy to dismiss giant numbers, but hard to dismiss a young child sitting on the ground crying when her mother told the story about how she left. It was very difficult to ignore the words of the mother who told her child that to die by a bullet would be better if she were to die, as it would be quicker.

Amal along with her husband George had a private meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The couple met the chancellor to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis and Europe’s efforts to help them. The Clooneys were accompanied by David Miliband, the former British foreign secretary who now heads the aid group International Rescue Committee.