0000793597 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:C000014890Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:C000014892Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:C000014893Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:C000014894Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:C000070264Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:C000014895Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:BeforeTaxMember dgifi1:C000014890Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member rr:AfterTaxesOnDistributionsMember dgifi1:C000014890Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member rr:AfterTaxesOnDistributionsAndSalesMember dgifi1:C000014890Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:BeforeTaxMember dgifi1:C000014892Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:BeforeTaxMember dgifi1:C000014893Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:BeforeTaxMember dgifi1:C000014894Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:BeforeTaxMember dgifi1:C000014895Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:MorganStanleyCapitalInternationalMsciWorldIndexMember dgifi1:C000014895Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000793597 dgifi1:S000005469Member dgifi1:MorganStanleyCapitalInternationalMsciWorldIndexMember dgifi1:C000070264Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 pure iso4217:USD 2012-12-01 485BPOS 0000793597 2012-11-30 2012-12-01 false 2012-08-31 DWS Global Thematic Fund Investment Objective The fund seeks long-term growth of capital. Fees and Expenses of the Fund These are the fees and expenses you may pay when you buy and hold shares. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in DWS funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in Choosing a Share Class (p. 22) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's Statement of Additional Information (SAI) (p. II-15). 0.0575 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.04 0.01 0 0 0 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 20 20 20 0 0 20 ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment) 0.0089 0.0089 0.0089 0.0089 0.0089 0.0089 0.01 0.01 0.0025 0.0049 0 0 0.004 0.004 0.0037 0.0053 0.0031 0.0035 0.0154 0.0229 0.0226 0.0191 0.012 0.0124 -0.0009 -0.0009 -0.0006 -0.0021 -0.0004 0 0.0145 0.022 0.022 0.017 0.012 0.012 November 30, 2013 EXAMPLE The Advisor has contractually agreed through September 30, 2013 to waive and/or reimburse fund expenses to the extent necessary to maintain the fund's total annual operating expenses at 1.29%, 2.04%, 2.04%, 1.54% and 1.04%; and for the period from October 1, 2013 through November 30, 2013, at ratios no higher than 1.45%, 2.20%, 2.20%, 1.70% and 1.20% (in each instance, excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses) for Classes A, B, C, R and S, respectively. These agreements may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses (including one year of capped expenses for Class A, Class B, Class C, Class R and Class S) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares: Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion. 714 623 323 173 122 122 1025 1007 701 580 381 389 1358 1417 1205 1012 660 677 2297 2258 2590 2216 1455 1496 714 223 223 173 122 122 1025 707 701 580 381 389 1358 1217 1205 1012 660 677 2297 2258 2590 2216 1455 1496 PORTFOLIO TURNOVER The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may mean higher taxes if you are investing in a taxable account. These costs are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, and can affect the fund's performance. Portfolio turnover rate for fiscal year 2012: 104%. 1.04 Principal Investment Strategy Main Investments. The fund invests at least 65% of its total assets in US and foreign equities (equities issued by US and foreign-based companies). Although the fund can invest in companies of any size and from any country, it invests mainly in common stocks of established companies in countries with developed economies. The fund's equity investments may also include preferred stocks and other securities with equity characteristics, such as convertible securities and warrants. Management process. In choosing securities, portfolio management uses a combination of three analytical disciplines:<ul><li>Bottom-up research. Portfolio management looks for individual companies that it believes have a history of above-average growth, strong competitive positioning, attractive prices relative to potential growth, sound financial strength and effective management, among other factors. </li><li>Growth orientation. Portfolio management generally looks for companies that it believes have above-average potential for sustainable growth of revenue or earnings and whose market value appears reasonable in light of their business prospects. </li><li>Analysis of global themes. Portfolio management considers global economic outlooks, seeking to identify industries and companies that are likely to benefit from social, political and economic changes. </li></ul>Portfolio management uses analytical tools to actively monitor the risk profile of the portfolio as compared to appropriate benchmarks. Portfolio management will normally sell a stock when it believes its price is unlikely to go much higher, its fundamentals have deteriorated, other investments offer better opportunities or in the course of adjusting the fund's exposure to a given country. Securities Lending. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions. Main Risks There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund's performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund's performance to trail that of other investments. The fund may not achieve its investment objective, and is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. Foreign investment risk. The fund faces the risks inherent in foreign investing. Adverse political, economic or social developments could undermine the value of the fund's investments or prevent the fund from realizing their full value. Financial reporting standards for companies based in foreign markets differ from those in the US. Additionally, foreign securities markets generally are smaller and less liquid than US markets. To the extent that the fund invests in non-US dollar denominated foreign securities, changes in currency exchange rates may affect the US dollar value of foreign securities or the income or gain received on these securities. Emerging markets risk. Foreign investment risks are greater in emerging markets than in developed markets. Investments in emerging markets are often considered speculative. Stock market risk. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. Stock prices can be hurt by poor management on the part of the stock's issuer, shrinking product demand and other business risks. These may affect single companies as well as groups of companies. In addition, movements in financial markets may adversely affect a stock's price, regardless of how well the company performs. To the extent that the fund invests in a particular geographic region or market sector, performance will be affected by that region's general performance. Security selection risk. The securities in the fund's portfolio may decline in value. Portfolio management could be wrong in its analysis of industries, companies, economic trends, the relative attractiveness of different securities or other matters. Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price. Pricing risk. If market conditions make it difficult to value some investments, the fund may value these investments using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for an investment could be different than the value realized upon such investment's sale. As a result, you could pay more than the market value when buying fund shares or receive less than the market value when selling fund shares. Securities lending risk. Any decline in the value of a portfolio security that occurs while the security is out on loan is borne by the fund and will adversely affect performance. Also, there may be delays in recovery of securities loaned or even a loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially while holding the security. Credit risk. The fund's performance could be hurt if an issuer of a debt security suffers an adverse change in financial condition that results in a payment default, security downgrade or inability to meet a financial obligation. Interest rate risk. When interest rates rise, prices of debt securities generally decline. The longer the duration of the fund's debt securities, the more sensitive it will be to interest rate changes. (As a general rule, a 1% rise in interest rates means a 1% fall in value for every year of duration.) Counterparty risk. A financial institution or other counterparty with whom the fund does business, or that underwrites, distributes or guarantees any investments or contracts that the fund owns or is otherwise exposed to, may decline in financial health and become unable to honor its commitments. This could cause losses for the fund or could delay the return or delivery of collateral or other assets to the fund. Past Performance How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). Past performance may not indicate future results. All performance figures below assume that dividends were reinvested. For more recent performance figures, go to www.dws-investments.com (the Web site does not form a part of this prospectus) or call the phone number included in this prospectus. The bar chart and the after-tax returns below are shown for Class A shares (instead of Class S shares, which had been used in the past) because Class A shares now have 10 or more years of annual returns and are available to most investors. For Class R shares, historical performance prior to class inception is based on the performance of the fund's original share class, Class S shares, adjusted to reflect the higher expenses and applicable sales charges of the relevant share class. CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A) -0.1721 0.3193 0.1469 0.2273 0.2994 0.0613 -0.4762 0.4318 0.1328 -0.1505 Best Quarter: 26.21%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -24.52%, Q4 2008 Year-to-Date as of 9/30/2012: 12.09% These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did. Returns for other classes were different and are not shown here. Average Annual Total Returns (For periods ended 12/31/2011 expressed as a %) After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) reflect the historical highest individual federal income tax rates, but do not reflect any state or local taxes. Your actual after-tax returns may be different. After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan. Institutional Class index comparison began on 8/31/08. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in DWS funds. 50000 There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund's performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund's performance to trail that of other investments. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). www.dws-investments.com Past performance may not indicate future results. These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did. After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) reflect the historical highest individual federal income tax rates, but do not reflect any state or local taxes. After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan. Year-to-Date 2012-09-30 0.1209 Best Quarter: 2009-06-30 0.2621 Worst Quarter: 2008-12-31 -0.2452 -0.1993 -0.1996 -0.1264 -0.182 -0.1566 -0.1537 -0.1477 -0.0554 -0.0631 -0.0725 -0.0533 -0.0614 -0.059 -0.0546 -0.0494 -0.0237 0.0373 0.0267 0.0315 0.0348 0.0356 0.0408 0.0465 0.0362 2001-06-18 2001-06-18 2001-06-18 2003-11-03 1986-07-23 -0.1476 -0.0554 -0.0288 -0.0166 2008-08-26 <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleShareholderFeesDWSGlobalThematicFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAnnualFundOperatingExpensesDWSGlobalThematicFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleExpenseExampleDWSGlobalThematicFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleExpenseExampleNoRedemptionDWSGlobalThematicFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAnnualTotalReturnsDWSGlobalThematicFundBarChart column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAverageAnnualTotalReturnsTransposedDWSGlobalThematicFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAverageAnnualTotalReturnsTransposedDWSGlobalThematicFundTwo column period compact * ~</div> SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment) DWS GLOBAL/INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC. After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) The bar chart and the after-tax returns below are shown for Class A shares (instead of Class S shares, which had been used in the past) because Class A shares now have 10 or more years of annual returns and are available to most investors.