0000088053 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:C000033588Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:C000033589Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:C000033591Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:C000033590Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:C000016568Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:C000016570Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:C000016571Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:C000016573Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:C000016572Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000016568Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000016570Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000016571Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000016573Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000016572Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member rr:AfterTaxesOnDistributionsMember difi1:C000016568Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member rr:AfterTaxesOnDistributionsAndSalesMember difi1:C000016568Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000006030Member difi1:MorganStanleyCapitalInternationalMsciEuropeAustralasiaFarEastEafeIndexMember 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member rr:AfterTaxesOnDistributionsMember difi1:C000033588Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000033588Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member rr:AfterTaxesOnDistributionsAndSalesMember difi1:C000033588Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000033589Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000033591Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:BeforeTaxMember difi1:C000033590Member 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 0000088053 difi1:S000012354Member difi1:RussellGlobalExUsValueIndexMember 2011-12-02 2012-12-01 pure iso4217:USD 2012-12-01 485BPOS DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC. false 0000088053 2012-11-30 2012-12-01 2012-08-31 DWS Dreman International Value Fund Investment Objective The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation, with current income as a secondary objective. 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). SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment) 0.0575 0 0 0 0 0.01 0 0 0.0575 0 0 0 0 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 20 20 0 20 ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment) 20 20 20 0 20 0 0.04 0.01 0 0 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 -0.02 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.0024 0.01 0 0 0.0048 0.0051 0.0046 0.0055 0.0152 0.0231 0.0126 0.0135 -0.0003 -0.0007 -0.0002 -0.0001 0.0149 0.0224 0.0124 0.0134 DWS International 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). SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment) ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment) The Advisor has contractually agreed through November 30, 2013 to waive and/or reimburse fund expenses to the extent necessary to maintain the fund's total annual operating expenses at ratios no higher than 1.49%, 2.24%, 1.24% and 1.34% (excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses) for Classes A, C, Institutional and S, respectively. The agreement may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board. 0.0057 0.0057 0.0057 0.0057 0.0057 0.0024 0.01 0.01 0 0 0.0044 0.0062 0.0046 0.002 0.0038 November 30, 2013 0.0125 0.0219 0.0203 0.0077 0.0095 EXAMPLE 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 each period) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 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. EXAMPLE 50000 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 remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 695 622 306 79 97 949 985 637 246 303 1222 1375 1093 428 525 1999 2066 2358 954 1166 718 126 227 136 427 715 398 1025 1354 690 1229 738 2281 1521 2640 1623 You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares: 695 222 206 79 97 949 685 637 246 303 1222 1175 1093 428 525 You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares: 1999 2066 2358 954 1166 718 327 126 136 1025 715 398 427 1229 690 738 1354 2281 2640 1521 1623 PORTFOLIO TURNOVER Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion. 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: 60%. 0.6 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: 91%. Principal Investment Strategy Principal Investment Strategy Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of assets, determined at the time of purchase, in the stocks and other securities with equity characteristics of non-US companies. The fund typically achieves its equity exposure to non-US equity companies through investing in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), but it is not limited to making investments in ADRs. The fund may invest up to 50% of its assets in emerging markets securities. The fund's equity investments are mainly common stocks, but may also include other types of equities such as preferred stocks or convertible securities. The fund may also invest up to 20% of its assets in cash equivalents, US investment-grade fixed-income securities, and US stocks and other equities. Management process. Portfolio management employs a value strategy and looks for companies it believes are undervalued. These are typically companies that portfolio management believes have been historically sound but are temporarily out of favor. Portfolio management uses a variety of quantitative screens to compare a company's stock price to earnings, book value, cash flow and dividend yield, and analyzes individual companies to identify those that portfolio management believes are financially sound and appear to have strong potential for long-term growth. Portfolio management compares its valuations on an absolute basis as well as within their respective industries. To further narrow the universe, portfolio management analyzes factors such as price momentum, earnings estimate revisions and fundamental changes. After narrowing the universe through a combination of qualitative and fundamental research, portfolio management evaluates and selects the 45 to 60 stocks typically held by the fund. 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. Value investing risk. As a category, value stocks may underperform growth stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. In addition, value stocks selected for investment by portfolio management may not perform as anticipated. 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. 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. Main investments. The fund invests at least 65% of its total assets in foreign equities (equities issued by foreign-based companies and listed on foreign exchanges), and may invest up to 20% of net assets in foreign debt securities, including convertible bonds. 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 (other than the United States). The fund's equity investments may also include preferred stocks, depositary receipts and other securities with equity characteristics, such as convertible securities and warrants. Management process. Portfolio management aims to add value through stock selection. Portfolio management utilizes a proprietary investment process designed to identify attractive investment candidates generated by more than 5,000 equity analysts around the globe, who collectively cover over 10,000 securities. Through the quality of these analysts' fundamental research, this process seeks to identify investments that may offer the potential for price appreciation. The investment process also takes into consideration various factors — both risk and return factors relative to the benchmark — and assists portfolio management in devising allocations among investable securities. Portfolio management may buy a security when its research resources indicate the potential for future upside price appreciation relative to the benchmark or its investment process identifies an attractive investment opportunity. Conversely, portfolio management may sell a security when its research resources indicate the potential for future downside or its investment process identifies more attractive investment opportunities elsewhere. Derivatives. Portfolio management generally may use futures contracts, which are a type of derivative (a contract whose value is based on, for example, indices, currencies or securities) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions. In addition, portfolio management generally may use forward currency contracts to hedge the fund's exposure to changes in foreign currency exchange rates on its foreign currency denominated portfolio holdings or to facilitate transactions in foreign currency denominated securities. Portfolio management generally may use structured notes to gain exposure to certain foreign markets that may not permit direct investment. The fund may also use various types of derivatives (i) for hedging purposes; (ii) for risk management; (iii) for non-hedging purposes to seek to enhance potential gains; or (iv) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions. 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. 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. Derivatives risk. Risks associated with derivatives include the risk that the derivative is not well correlated with the security, index or currency to which it relates; the risk that derivatives may result in losses or missed opportunities; the risk that the fund will be unable to sell the derivative because of an illiquid secondary market; the risk that a counterparty is unwilling or unable to meet its obligation; and the risk that the derivative transaction could expose the fund to the effects of leverage, which could increase the fund's exposure to the market and magnify potential losses. 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. CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A) Past Performance 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. 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.Prior to June 21, 2010, the fund, previously named DWS International Value Opportunities Fund, was not sub-advised by Dreman Value Management, L.L.C. and operated with a different investment strategy. Performance would have been different if the fund's current management and policies had been in effect. -0.1656 0.2746 0.1637 0.1594 0.2576 0.1425 -0.4828 0.3266 0.0221 -0.1671 CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A) 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. Best Quarter: 22.81%, Q3 2009 Worst Quarter: -26.78%, Q3 2008 Year-to-Date as of 9/30/2012: 13.45% 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. 1999-08-02 2000-12-29 2000-12-29 2000-12-29 1953-06-18 -0.215 -0.2175 -0.1354 -0.1981 -0.1735 -0.1636 -0.1644 -0.1214 -0.0886 -0.0905 -0.0717 -0.0868 -0.0847 -0.0736 -0.0748 -0.0472 0.0127 0.0111 0.0124 0.0101 0.0107 0.0236 0.022 0.0467 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. 0.1552 -0.4172 0.2396 0.022 -0.1196 Best Quarter: 19.23%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -24.37%, Q3 2008Year-to-Date as of 9/30/2012: 10.08% Year-to-Date 2012-09-30 0.1008 Best Quarter: 2009-06-30 0.1923 Worst Quarter: 2008-09-30 -0.2437 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. Index comparison begins on 6/30/06. 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. After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) -0.1727 -0.1702 -0.107 -0.1267 -0.1174 -0.118 -0.1505 -0.0668 -0.0686 -0.0545 -0.0628 -0.0532 -0.0532 -0.0435 -0.0364 -0.0383 -0.0295 -0.0332 -0.0233 -0.0234 -0.0133 2006-07-05 2006-07-05 2006-07-05 2006-07-05 Year-to-Date 0.1345 2012-09-30 Best Quarter: 2009-09-30 0.2281 Worst Quarter: -0.2678 2008-09-30 <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleShareholderFeesDWSDremanInternationalValueFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAnnualFundOperatingExpensesDWSDremanInternationalValueFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAnnualTotalReturnsDWSDremanInternationalValueFundBarChart column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAverageAnnualTotalReturnsTransposedDWSDremanInternationalValueFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleShareholderFeesDWSInternationalFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAnnualFundOperatingExpensesDWSInternationalFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAnnualTotalReturnsDWSInternationalFundBarChart column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleAverageAnnualTotalReturnsTransposedDWSInternationalFund column period compact * ~</div> 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 are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan. 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 (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes) <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleExpenseExampleDWSInternationalFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleExpenseExampleNoRedemptionDWSInternationalFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleExpenseExampleDWSDremanInternationalValueFund column period compact * ~</div> <div style="display:none">~ http://www.dws-investments.com/role/ScheduleExpenseExampleNoRedemptionDWSDremanInternationalValueFund column period compact * ~</div> 0.91 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.