485BPOS

Filed electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 22, 2013

File No. 002-14400

File No. 811-00642

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D. C. 20549

FORM N-1A

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933	| X |
Pre-Effective Amendment No.	|__|
Post-Effective Amendment No. 134	| X |
and/or
REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940	| X |
Amendment No. 114
DWS International Fund, Inc. (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
345 Park Avenue, New York, NY  10154 (Address of Principal Executive Offices)   (Zip Code)
Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code:  (617) 295-1000
John Millette Vice President and Secretary One Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108 (Name and Address of Agent for Service)
Copy to: Thomas Hiller, Esq. Ropes & Gray Prudential Tower, 800 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02199-3600

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):

|X|	Immediately upon filing pursuant to paragraph (b)
|__|	On ______________ pursuant to paragraph (b)
|__|	60 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)
|__|	On ______________ pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)
|__|	75 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(2)
|__|	On ______________ pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of Rule 485
	If appropriate, check the following box:
|__|	This post-effective amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment.

This filing relates solely to the following Funds, each a series of the Registrant:

·   DWS Diversified International Equity Fund — Class A, Class B, Class C, Institutional Class, Class R, and Class S

·   DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund — Class A, Class B, Class C, Institutional Class and Class S

·   DWS Latin America Equity Fund — Class A, Class B, Class C and Class S

·   DWS World Dividend Fund — Class A, Class B, Class C, Institutional Class and Class S

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Registrant certifies that it meets all of the requirements for effectiveness of this Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act of 1933 and has duly caused this amendment to its Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereto duly authorized, in the City of New York and the State of New York on the 15th day of February 2013.

           DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC.

By:  /s/ W. Douglas Beck

        W. Douglas Beck*

President

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Post-Effective Amendment to its Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated:

SIGNATURE TITLE DATE

/s/W. Douglas Beck
W. Douglas Beck*	President	February 15, 2013
/s/Paul H. Schubert
Paul H. Schubert	Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer	February 15, 2013
/s/John W. Ballantine
John W. Ballantine*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Henry P. Becton, Jr.
Henry P. Becton, Jr.*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Dawn-Marie Driscoll
Dawn-Marie Driscoll*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Keith R. Fox
Keith R. Fox*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Paul K. Freeman
Paul K. Freeman*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Kenneth C. Froewiss
Kenneth C. Froewiss*	Chairperson and Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Richard J. Herring
Richard J. Herring*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/William McClayton
William McClayton*	Vice Chairperson and Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Rebecca W. Rimel
Rebecca W. Rimel*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/William N. Searcy, Jr.
William N. Searcy, Jr.*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Jean Gleason Stromberg
Jean Gleason Stromberg*	Director	February 15, 2013
/s/Robert H. Wadsworth
Robert H. Wadsworth*	Director	February 15, 2013

*By:        /s/Caroline Pearson

Caroline Pearson**

Chief Legal Officer

** Attorney-in-fact pursuant to the powers of attorney that are incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 125 to the Registration Statement, as filed on October 21, 2011; and as filed on December 1, 2008 in Post-Effective Amendment No. 113 to the Registration Statement.

EXHIBIT INDEX

Index No.	Description of Exhibit
EX-101.INS	XBRL Instance Document
EX-101.SCH	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
EX-101.CAL	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase
EX-101.DEF	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase
EX-101.LAB	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase
EX-101.PRE	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC.
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Feb. 01, 2013
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	DWS Diversified International Equity Fund
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The fund seeks capital appreciation.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses of the Fund
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	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. 53) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's Statement of Additional Information (SAI) (p. II-15).
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination	January 31, 2014
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	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: 21%.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	21.00%
Expense Footnotes [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseFootnotesTextBlock	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 1.49%, 2.24%, 2.24% and 1.74%; and for the period October 1, 2013 through January 31, 2014 at ratios no higher than 1.59%, 2.34%, 2.34% and 1.84% (in each instance, excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage, interest expenses, and acquired funds fees and expenses) for Class A, Class B, Class C and Class R, respectively. These agreements may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board.
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	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.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	50,000
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	EXAMPLE
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	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 and Class R) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionNarrativeTextBlock	You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:
Expense Example Closing [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleClosingTextBlock	Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Class B Example reflects Class A fees after the conversion.
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategy
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets, determined at the time of purchase, in equity securities and other securities with equity characteristics. In addition to common stock, other securities with equity characteristics include preferred stock, convertible securities, warrants and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). At least 50% of the fund's assets will be invested in securities that make up the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East Index (MSCI EAFE® Index). In addition, the fund may invest in Canada. 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. 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 may also invest a portion of its assets (typically not more than 35% of its net assets) in securities of companies located in emerging markets, such as those of many countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Management process. In choosing securities, portfolio management allocates percentages of assets to various countries and sectors. Portfolio management periodically reviews these allocations and may adjust them based on current or anticipated market conditions or to manage risk consistent with the fund's investment objective. 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. 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.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Main Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	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. Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. 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. Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund. 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. ETF risk. Because ETFs trade on a securities exchange, their shares may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. An ETF is subject to the risks of the assets in which it invests as well as those of the investment strategy it follows. The fund incurs brokerage costs when it buys and sells shares of an ETF and also bears its proportionate share of the ETF's fees and expenses, which are passed through to ETF shareholders. 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. 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. 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. Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price. Small company risk. Small company stocks tend to be more volatile than medium-sized or large company stocks. Small companies are less widely followed by stock analysts and less information about them is available to investors. Industry-wide reversals may have a greater impact on small companies, since they may lack the financial resources of larger companies. Small company stocks are typically less liquid than large company stocks. Credit risk. The fund's performance could be hurt if an issuer of a security suffers an adverse change in financial condition that results in the issuer not making timely payments of interest or principal, a 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.)
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	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.
Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]	rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution	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.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Past Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	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 respective performance figures for Class S and Class R shares prior to their inception dates are based on the historical performance of the Institutional Class, adjusted to reflect the higher gross total annual operating expenses of Class S and Class R.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	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).
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	www.dws-investments.com
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Past performance may not indicate future results.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A)
Bar Chart Narrative [Text Block]	rr_BarChartNarrativeTextBlock	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.
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter: 20.68%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -27.15%, Q3 2008
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns (For periods ended 12/31/2012 expressed as a %)
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	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.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes)
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	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.
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.70%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.24%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.72%
Acquired funds fees and expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.70%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.07%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.63%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	731
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,073
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,439
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,463
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	731
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	1,073
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,439
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,463
2003	rr_AnnualReturn2003	32.25%
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	16.25%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	13.15%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	24.81%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	15.87%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(48.34%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	28.81%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	10.76%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	(12.74%)
2013	rr_AnnualReturn2013	17.12%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Jun. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	20.68%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Sep. 30, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(27.15%)
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	4.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.70%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.90%
Acquired funds fees and expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.64%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.26%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	2.38%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	641
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,096
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,577
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,515
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	241
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	796
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,377
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,515
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	1.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.70%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.72%
Acquired funds fees and expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.46%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.08%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	2.38%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	341
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	759
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,303
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,790
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	241
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	759
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,303
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,790
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | Class R
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	none
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.70%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.47%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.70%
Acquired funds fees and expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.91%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.03%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.88%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	191
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	597
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,029
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,230
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	191
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	597
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,029
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,230
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	none
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.70%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.53%
Acquired funds fees and expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.27%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.27%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	129
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	403
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	697
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,534
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	129
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	403
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	697
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,534
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.70%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.74%
Acquired funds fees and expenses	rr_AcquiredFundFeesAndExpensesOverAssets	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.48%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.48%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	151
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	468
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	808
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,768
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	151
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	468
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	808
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,768
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | before tax | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.38%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.62%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.97%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Feb. 28, 2001
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | before tax | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	13.38%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.39%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.80%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Feb. 28, 2001
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | before tax | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	16.38%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.22%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.80%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Feb. 28, 2001
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | before tax | Class R
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	16.90%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.67%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.40%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Jul. 01, 2003
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | before tax | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	17.61%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.11%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.97%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 15, 1995
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | before tax | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	17.38%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.25%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.83%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Feb. 28, 2005
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | After tax on distributions | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.01%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.83%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	4.73%
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	7.26%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.42%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.20%
DWS Diversified International Equity Fund | MSCI EAFE Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	17.32%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(3.69%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	8.21%

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DWS Diversified International Equity Fund

DWS Diversified International Equity Fund

Investment Objective

The fund seeks capital appreciation.

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. 53) 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)

Shareholder Fees DWS Diversified International Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class R	INST Class	Class S
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	5.75%	none	none	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	none	4.00%	1.00%	none	none	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	20	20	20	none	none	20

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses DWS Diversified International Equity Fund	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class R	INST Class	Class S
Management fee	0.70%	0.70%	0.70%	0.70%	0.70%	0.70%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	0.24%	1.00%	1.00%	0.47%	none	none
Other expenses	0.72%	0.90%	0.72%	0.70%	0.53%	0.74%
Acquired funds fees and expenses	0.04%	0.04%	0.04%	0.04%	0.04%	0.04%
Total annual fund operating expenses	1.70%	2.64%	2.46%	1.91%	1.27%	1.48%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	0.07%	0.26%	0.08%	0.03%	none	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	1.63%	2.38%	2.38%	1.88%	1.27%	1.48%

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 1.49%, 2.24%, 2.24% and 1.74%; and for the period October 1, 2013 through January 31, 2014 at ratios no higher than 1.59%, 2.34%, 2.34% and 1.84% (in each instance, excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage, interest expenses, and acquired funds fees and expenses) for Class A, Class B, Class C and Class R, respectively. These agreements may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board.

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 Class A, Class B, Class C and Class R) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example DWS Diversified International Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class R	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	731	641	341	191	129	151
3 Years	1,073	1,096	759	597	403	468
5 Years	1,439	1,577	1,303	1,029	697	808
10 Years	2,463	2,515	2,790	2,230	1,534	1,768

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption DWS Diversified International Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class R	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	731	241	241	191	129	151
3 Years	1,073	796	759	597	403	468
5 Years	1,439	1,377	1,303	1,029	697	808
10 Years	2,463	2,515	2,790	2,230	1,534	1,768

Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Class B Example reflects Class A fees after the conversion.

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: 21%.

Principal Investment Strategy

Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets, determined at the time of purchase, in equity securities and other securities with equity characteristics. In addition to common stock, other securities with equity characteristics include preferred stock, convertible securities, warrants and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

At least 50% of the fund's assets will be invested in securities that make up the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East Index (MSCI EAFE® Index). In addition, the fund may invest in Canada.

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. 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 may also invest a portion of its assets (typically not more than 35% of its net assets) in securities of companies located in emerging markets, such as those of many countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.

Management process. In choosing securities, portfolio management allocates percentages of assets to various countries and sectors. Portfolio management periodically reviews these allocations and may adjust them based on current or anticipated market conditions or to manage risk consistent with the fund's investment objective.

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.

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.

Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well.

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.

Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund.

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.

ETF risk. Because ETFs trade on a securities exchange, their shares may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. An ETF is subject to the risks of the assets in which it invests as well as those of the investment strategy it follows. The fund incurs brokerage costs when it buys and sells shares of an ETF and also bears its proportionate share of the ETF's fees and expenses, which are passed through to ETF shareholders.

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.

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.

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.

Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price.

Small company risk. Small company stocks tend to be more volatile than medium-sized or large company stocks. Small companies are less widely followed by stock analysts and less information about them is available to investors. Industry-wide reversals may have a greater impact on small companies, since they may lack the financial resources of larger companies. Small company stocks are typically less liquid than large company stocks.

Credit risk. The fund's performance could be hurt if an issuer of a security suffers an adverse change in financial condition that results in the issuer not making timely payments of interest or principal, a 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.)

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 respective performance figures for Class S and Class R shares prior to their inception dates are based on the historical performance of the Institutional Class, adjusted to reflect the higher gross total annual operating expenses of Class S and Class R.

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: 20.68%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -27.15%, Q3 2008

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2012 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.

Average Annual Total Returns DWS Diversified International Equity Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	Feb. 28, 2001	10.38%	(6.62%)	5.97%
Class A After tax on distributions		10.01%	(6.83%)	4.73%
Class A After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares		7.26%	(5.42%)	5.20%
Class B before tax	Feb. 28, 2001	13.38%	(6.39%)	5.80%
Class C before tax	Feb. 28, 2001	16.38%	(6.22%)	5.80%
INST Class before tax	May 15, 1995	17.61%	(5.11%)	6.97%
Class R before tax	Jul. 01, 2003	16.90%	(5.67%)	6.40%
Class S before tax	Feb. 28, 2005	17.38%	(5.25%)	6.83%
MSCI EAFE Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)		17.32%	(3.69%)	8.21%

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Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC.
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Feb. 01, 2013
DWS World Dividend Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	DWS World Dividend Fund
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The fund seeks total return, emphasizing both current income and capital appreciation.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses of the Fund
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	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. 53) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's Statement of Additional Information (SAI) (p. II-15).
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	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: 19%.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	19.00%
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	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.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	50,000
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	EXAMPLE
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	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:
Expense Example, No Redemption Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionNarrativeTextBlock	You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:
Expense Example Closing [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleClosingTextBlock	Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategy
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	Main investments. Normally, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in dividend paying stocks. The fund will generally invest in at least three different countries and will normally invest at least 40% of net assets in securities issued by foreign based companies. The fund's investments will include primarily common stocks issued by US and foreign based companies and may also include preferred stocks and other equity securities such as convertible securities and warrants. Management process. Although the fund may invest in companies of any size and from any country, it will invest mainly in common stocks of established companies in countries with developed economies. The fund will seek income by investing in dividend paying stocks. Portfolio management looks for companies it believes are fundamentally strong and that it expects to have high, sustainable dividend yields and stable cash flows. In choosing securities, portfolio management uses a combination of analytical disciplines: 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. 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. Analysis of regional themes. Portfolio management looks for significant social, economic, industrial and demographic changes, seeking to identify stocks that may benefit from them. Securities Lending. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Main Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	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. Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. Dividend-paying stock risk. As a category, dividend-paying stocks may underperform non-dividend paying stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. In addition, if the dividend-paying stocks held by the fund reduce or stop paying dividends, the fund's ability to generate income may be adversely affected. 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. Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund. 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. 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. 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. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities. Because the issuers of high-yield debt securities or junk bonds (debt securities rated below the fourth highest credit rating category) may be in uncertain financial health, the prices of their debt securities can be more vulnerable to bad economic news or even the expectation of bad news, than investment-grade debt securities. 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.) Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price. Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances. 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.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	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.
Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]	rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution	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.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Past Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	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.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	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).
Performance Additional Market Index [Text]	rr_PerformanceAdditionalMarketIndex	The Advisor believes the MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index, which was first calculated on 5/31/06, generally represents the fund's overall investment process. The Advisor believes the additional MSCI World Index reflects typical fund asset allocations and also provides comparative performance over a ten year period with a broad-based securities market index.
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	www.dws-investments.com
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Past performance may not indicate future results.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A)
Bar Chart Narrative [Text Block]	rr_BarChartNarrativeTextBlock	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.
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter: 26.32%, Q3 2009 Worst Quarter: -24.31%, Q4 2008
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns (For periods ended 12/31/2012 expressed as a %)
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	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.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes)
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	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 comparisons for Institutional Class shares began on 3/31/2005.
DWS World Dividend Fund | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.66%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.23%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.40%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.29%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	699
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	960
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,242
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,042
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	699
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	960
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,242
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,042
2003	rr_AnnualReturn2003	32.23%
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	16.83%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	12.63%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	32.63%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	5.48%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(48.01%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	31.55%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	2.97%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	0.11%
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	10.84%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Sep. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	26.32%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(24.31%)
DWS World Dividend Fund | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	4.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.66%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.99%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.65%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	668
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,123
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,605
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,345
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	268
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	823
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,405
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,345
DWS World Dividend Fund | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	1.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.66%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.36%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.02%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	305
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	634
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,088
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,348
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	205
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	634
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,088
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,348
DWS World Dividend Fund | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	none
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.66%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.33%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	0.99%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	101
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	315
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	547
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,213
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	101
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	315
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	547
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,213
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	11.18%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(4.39%)
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	2.42%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Mar. 11, 2005
DWS World Dividend Fund | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	0.66%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.47%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.13%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	115
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	359
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	622
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,375
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	115
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	359
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	622
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,375
DWS World Dividend Fund | before tax | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	4.47%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.93%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.01%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Mar. 19, 2001
DWS World Dividend Fund | before tax | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	6.88%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.81%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.70%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Mar. 19, 2001
DWS World Dividend Fund | before tax | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.04%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.60%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.76%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Mar. 19, 2001
DWS World Dividend Fund | before tax | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.99%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(4.61%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	6.85%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Oct. 10, 1994
DWS World Dividend Fund | After tax on distributions | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.87%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.39%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.42%
DWS World Dividend Fund | After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.45%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(5.00%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	5.28%
DWS World Dividend Fund | MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	12.24%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(1.31%)
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception
DWS World Dividend Fund | MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	12.24%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(1.31%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10
DWS World Dividend Fund | MSCI World Index | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.83%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(1.18%)
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	4.10%
DWS World Dividend Fund | MSCI World Index | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.83%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(1.18%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	7.51%

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC.
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Feb. 01, 2013
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Jan. 31, 2013

XML

Document and Entity Information	12 Months Ended
	Feb. 01, 2013
Risk/Return:
Document Type	485BPOS
Document Period End Date	Oct. 31, 2012
Registrant Name	DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC.
Central Index Key	0000088053
Amendment Flag	false
Document Creation Date	Jan. 31, 2013
Document Effective Date	Feb. 01, 2013
Prospectus Date	Feb. 01, 2013

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC.
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Feb. 01, 2013
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The fund seeks long-term growth of capital.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses of the Fund
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	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. 53) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's Statement of Additional Information (SAI) (p. II-15).
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination	January 31, 2014
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	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: 82%.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	82.00%
Expense Footnotes [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseFootnotesTextBlock	The Advisor has contractually agreed through January 31, 2014 to waive and/or reimburse fund expenses to the extent necessary to maintain the fund's total annual operating expenses (excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses) at ratios no higher than 2.57% and 2.57% for Class B and Class C, respectively. The agreement may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board.
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	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.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	50,000
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	EXAMPLE
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	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 B and Class C) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionNarrativeTextBlock	You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:
Expense Example Closing [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleClosingTextBlock	Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategy
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in emerging market equities (equities traded mainly in emerging markets or issued by companies that are organized in emerging markets or have more than half of their business there). The fund considers "emerging markets" to include any country defined as an emerging or developing economy by The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank), the International Finance Corporation or the United Nations or its authorities. The fund considers an issuer to have more than half of its business in emerging markets if at least (i) 50% of the issuer's assets are in an emerging market country, or (ii) 50% of an issuer's revenues or profits are from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in emerging markets. The fund may invest up to 20% of net assets in equities from the US or other developed markets. The fund may also invest up to 20% of net assets in US or emerging market debt securities when portfolio management believes these securities may perform at least as well as equities. The fund invests primarily in common stocks, but may also invest in preferred stocks or convertible securities. 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. Based on 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.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Main Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	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. Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. 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. Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund. 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. 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. 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. 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. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities. Because the issuers of high-yield debt securities or junk bonds (debt securities rated below the fourth highest credit rating category) may be in uncertain financial health, the prices of their debt securities can be more vulnerable to bad economic news or even the expectation of bad news, than investment-grade debt securities. Growth investing risk. As a category, growth stocks may underperform value stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. Because the prices of growth stocks are based largely on the expectation of future earnings, growth stock prices can decline rapidly and significantly in reaction to negative news about such factors as earnings, the economy, political developments, or other news. 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.) Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price. Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	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.
Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]	rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution	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.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Past Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	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.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	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).
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	www.dws-investments.com
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Past performance may not indicate future results.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A)
Bar Chart Narrative [Text Block]	rr_BarChartNarrativeTextBlock	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.
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter: 32.27%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -32.73%, Q4 2008
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns (For periods ended 12/31/2012 expressed as a %)
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	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.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes)
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	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 comparisons for Institutional Class shares began on 2/29/2008.
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.02%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.24%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.50%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.76%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.76%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	744
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,097
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,474
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,529
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	744
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	1,097
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,474
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,529
2003	rr_AnnualReturn2003	56.10%
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	22.12%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	33.71%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	30.15%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	39.40%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(57.80%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	68.84%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	11.25%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	(23.22%)
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	15.14%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Jun. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	32.27%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(32.73%)
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	4.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.02%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.99%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.68%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.69%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.12%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	2.57%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	660
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,124
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,614
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,582
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	260
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	824
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,414
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,582
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	1.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.02%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.57%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.59%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.02%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	2.57%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	360
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	804
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,374
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,923
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	260
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	804
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,374
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,923
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	none
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.02%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.34%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.36%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.36%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	138
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	431
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	745
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,635
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	138
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	431
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	745
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,635
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.46%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	(5.01%)
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Mar. 03, 2008
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.02%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.55%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.57%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.57%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	160
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	496
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	855
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,867
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	160
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	496
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	855
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,867
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | before tax | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	8.52%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(7.96%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	11.81%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 29, 2001
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | before tax | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	11.26%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(7.90%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	11.51%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 29, 2001
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | before tax | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	14.22%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(7.66%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	11.55%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 29, 2001
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | before tax | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	15.35%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.65%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	12.74%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 08, 1996
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | After tax on distributions | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	8.59%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(7.89%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	10.65%
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	5.95%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.46%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	10.59%
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | MSCI Emerging Market Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses) | INST Class
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	18.22%
Since Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnSinceInception	0.33%
DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund | MSCI Emerging Market Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses) | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	18.22%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(0.92%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	16.52%

XML

DWS Latin America Equity Fund

DWS Latin America Equity Fund

Investment Objective

The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

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. 53) 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)

Shareholder Fees DWS Latin America Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class S
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	5.75%	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	none	4.00%	1.00%	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	20	20	20	20

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses DWS Latin America Equity Fund	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class S
Management fee	1.13%	1.13%	1.13%	1.13%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	0.25%	1.00%	1.00%	none
Other expenses	0.41%	0.45%	0.42%	0.35%
Total annual fund operating expenses	1.79%	2.58%	2.55%	1.48%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	0.01%	0.05%	0.02%	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	1.78%	2.53%	2.53%	1.48%

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 1.60%, 2.35% and 2.35%; and for the period from October 1, 2013 through January 31, 2014, at ratios no higher than 1.78%, 2.53% and 2.53% (in each instance, excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses) for Classes A, B and C, respectively. These agreements may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board.

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 Class A, Class B and Class C) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example DWS Latin America Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class S
1 Year	745	656	356	151
3 Years	1,105	1,098	792	468
5 Years	1,488	1,566	1,354	808
10 Years	2,558	2,542	2,884	1,768

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption DWS Latin America Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	Class S
1 Year	745	256	256	151
3 Years	1,105	798	792	468
5 Years	1,488	1,366	1,354	808
10 Years	2,558	2,542	2,884	1,768

Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.

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: 163%.

Principal Investment Strategy

Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in Latin American common stocks and other equities (equities that are traded mainly on Latin American markets, issued or guaranteed by a Latin American government or issued by a company organized under the laws of a Latin American country or any company with more than half of its business in Latin America). The fund defines Latin America as Mexico, Central America, South America and the Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean.

The fund may invest up to 20% of net assets in the equity securities of US and other non-Latin American issuers and in debt securities including junk bonds (grade BB/Ba and below). The fund may also invest as much as 10% of net assets in debt securities rated B or lower.

Management process. Although the fund may invest in any Latin American country, it expects to invest primarily in common stocks of established companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

In choosing securities, portfolio management uses a combination of three analytical disciplines:

• 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.
• 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.
• Analysis of regional themes. Portfolio management looks for significant social, economic, industrial and demographic changes, seeking to identify stocks that may benefit from them.

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.

Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well.

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.

Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund.

Emerging markets risk. Foreign investment risks are greater in emerging markets than in developed markets. Investments in emerging markets are often considered speculative.

Non-diversification risk. The fund is classified as non-diversified under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. This means that the fund may invest in securities of relatively few issuers. Thus, the performance of one or a small number of portfolio holdings can affect overall performance.

Growth investing risk. As a category, growth stocks may underperform value stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. Because the prices of growth stocks are based largely on the expectation of future earnings, growth stock prices can decline rapidly and significantly in reaction to negative news about such factors as earnings, the economy, political developments, or other news.

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.

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.

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. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities.

Because the issuers of high-yield debt securities or junk bonds (debt securities rated below the fourth highest credit rating category) may be in uncertain financial health, the prices of their debt securities can be more vulnerable to bad economic news or even the expectation of bad news, than investment-grade debt securities.

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.

Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price.

Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances.

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.

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: 34.03%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -36.59%, Q4 2008

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2012 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.

Average Annual Total Returns DWS Latin America Equity Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	May 29, 2001	6.77%	(4.95%)	17.47%
Class A After tax on distributions		3.09%	(6.40%)	15.88%
Class A After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares		10.79%	(3.90%)	16.02%
Class B before tax	May 29, 2001	9.79%	(4.69%)	17.21%
Class C before tax	May 29, 2001	12.44%	(4.59%)	17.23%
Class S before tax	Dec. 08, 1992	13.52%	(3.53%)	18.48%
MSCI EM (Emerging Markets) Latin America Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)		8.66%	(0.11%)	22.76%

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	DWS INTERNATIONAL FUND, INC.
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Feb. 01, 2013
DWS Latin America Equity Fund
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Risk/Return [Heading]	rr_RiskReturnHeading	DWS Latin America Equity Fund
Objective [Heading]	rr_ObjectiveHeading	Investment Objective
Objective, Primary [Text Block]	rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock	The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.
Expense [Heading]	rr_ExpenseHeading	Fees and Expenses of the Fund
Expense Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock	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. 53) and Purchase and Redemption of Shares in the fund's Statement of Additional Information (SAI) (p. II-15).
Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]	rr_ShareholderFeesCaption	SHAREHOLDER FEES (paid directly from your investment)
Operating Expenses Caption [Text]	rr_OperatingExpensesCaption	ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination	January 31, 2014
Portfolio Turnover [Heading]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading	PORTFOLIO TURNOVER
Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]	rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock	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: 163%.
Portfolio Turnover, Rate	rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate	163.00%
Expense Footnotes [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseFootnotesTextBlock	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 1.60%, 2.35% and 2.35%; and for the period from October 1, 2013 through January 31, 2014, at ratios no higher than 1.78%, 2.53% and 2.53% (in each instance, excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses) for Classes A, B and C, respectively. These agreements may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board.
Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts	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.
Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]	rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount	50,000
Expense Example [Heading]	rr_ExpenseExampleHeading	EXAMPLE
Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock	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 and Class C) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example, No Redemption Narrative [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionNarrativeTextBlock	You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:
Expense Example Closing [Text Block]	rr_ExpenseExampleClosingTextBlock	Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.
Strategy [Heading]	rr_StrategyHeading	Principal Investment Strategy
Strategy Narrative [Text Block]	rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock	Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in Latin American common stocks and other equities (equities that are traded mainly on Latin American markets, issued or guaranteed by a Latin American government or issued by a company organized under the laws of a Latin American country or any company with more than half of its business in Latin America). The fund defines Latin America as Mexico, Central America, South America and the Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean. The fund may invest up to 20% of net assets in the equity securities of US and other non-Latin American issuers and in debt securities including junk bonds (grade BB/Ba and below). The fund may also invest as much as 10% of net assets in debt securities rated B or lower. Management process. Although the fund may invest in any Latin American country, it expects to invest primarily in common stocks of established companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru. In choosing securities, portfolio management uses a combination of three analytical disciplines: 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. 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. Analysis of regional themes. Portfolio management looks for significant social, economic, industrial and demographic changes, seeking to identify stocks that may benefit from them. 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.
Risk [Heading]	rr_RiskHeading	Main Risks
Risk Narrative [Text Block]	rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock	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. Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. 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. Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund. Emerging markets risk. Foreign investment risks are greater in emerging markets than in developed markets. Investments in emerging markets are often considered speculative. Non-diversification risk. The fund is classified as non-diversified under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. This means that the fund may invest in securities of relatively few issuers. Thus, the performance of one or a small number of portfolio holdings can affect overall performance. Growth investing risk. As a category, growth stocks may underperform value stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. Because the prices of growth stocks are based largely on the expectation of future earnings, growth stock prices can decline rapidly and significantly in reaction to negative news about such factors as earnings, the economy, political developments, or other news. 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. 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. 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. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities. Because the issuers of high-yield debt securities or junk bonds (debt securities rated below the fourth highest credit rating category) may be in uncertain financial health, the prices of their debt securities can be more vulnerable to bad economic news or even the expectation of bad news, than investment-grade debt securities. 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. Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price. Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances.
Risk Lose Money [Text]	rr_RiskLoseMoney	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.
Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]	rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus	Non-diversification risk. The fund is classified as non-diversified under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. This means that the fund may invest in securities of relatively few issuers. Thus, the performance of one or a small number of portfolio holdings can affect overall performance.
Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]	rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution	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.
Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]	rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading	Past Performance
Performance Narrative [Text Block]	rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock	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.
Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]	rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns	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).
Performance Availability Website Address [Text]	rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress	www.dws-investments.com
Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]	rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture	Past performance may not indicate future results.
Bar Chart [Heading]	rr_BarChartHeading	CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (Class A)
Bar Chart Narrative [Text Block]	rr_BarChartNarrativeTextBlock	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.
Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text]	rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads	These year-by-year returns do not include sales charges, if any, and would be lower if they did.
Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]	rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock	Best Quarter: 34.03%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -36.59%, Q4 2008
Performance Table Heading	rr_PerformanceTableHeading	Average Annual Total Returns (For periods ended 12/31/2012 expressed as a %)
Performance Table Uses Highest Federal Rate	rr_PerformanceTableUsesHighestFederalRate	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.
Performance Table Not Relevant to Tax Deferred	rr_PerformanceTableNotRelevantToTaxDeferred	After-tax returns are not relevant to shares held in an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged investment plan.
Performance Table One Class of after Tax Shown [Text]	rr_PerformanceTableOneClassOfAfterTaxShown	After-tax returns (which are shown only for Class A and would be different for other classes)
Performance Table Narrative	rr_PerformanceTableNarrativeTextBlock	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.
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	5.75%
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	(2.00%)
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.13%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	0.25%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.41%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.79%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.01%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.78%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	745
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,105
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,488
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,558
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	745
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	1,105
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,488
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,558
2003	rr_AnnualReturn2003	54.49%
2004	rr_AnnualReturn2004	33.79%
2005	rr_AnnualReturn2005	52.14%
2006	rr_AnnualReturn2006	41.81%
2007	rr_AnnualReturn2007	44.65%
2008	rr_AnnualReturn2008	(55.95%)
2009	rr_AnnualReturn2009	92.20%
2010	rr_AnnualReturn2010	10.99%
2011	rr_AnnualReturn2011	(22.65%)
2012	rr_AnnualReturn2012	13.28%
Highest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Best Quarter:
Highest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate	Jun. 30, 2009
Highest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn	34.03%
Lowest Quarterly Return, Label	rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel	Worst Quarter:
Lowest Quarterly Return, Date	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate	Dec. 31, 2008
Lowest Quarterly Return	rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn	(36.59%)
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	4.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	(2.00%)
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.13%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.45%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.58%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.05%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	2.53%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	656
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	1,098
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,566
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,542
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	256
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	798
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,366
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,542
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	1.00%
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	(2.00%)
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.13%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	1.00%
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.42%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	2.55%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	0.02%
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	2.53%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	356
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	792
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	1,354
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	2,884
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	256
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	792
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	1,354
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	2,884
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOther	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption	(2.00%)
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	rr_MaximumAccountFee	20
Management fee	rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets	1.13%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets	none
Other expenses	rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets	0.35%
Total annual fund operating expenses	rr_ExpensesOverAssets	1.48%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	rr_NetExpensesOverAssets	1.48%
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleYear01	151
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear03	468
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear05	808
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleYear10	1,768
1 Year	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01	151
3 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03	468
5 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05	808
10 Years	rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10	1,768
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | before tax | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	6.77%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(4.95%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	17.47%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 29, 2001
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | before tax | Class B
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	9.79%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(4.69%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	17.21%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 29, 2001
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | before tax | Class C
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	12.44%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(4.59%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	17.23%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	May 29, 2001
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | before tax | Class S
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	13.52%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(3.53%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	18.48%
Class Inception	rr_AverageAnnualReturnInceptionDate	Dec. 08, 1992
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | After tax on distributions | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	3.09%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(6.40%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	15.88%
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares | Class A
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	10.79%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(3.90%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	16.02%
DWS Latin America Equity Fund | MSCI EM (Emerging Markets) Latin America Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
1 Year	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01	8.66%
5 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05	(0.11%)
10 Years	rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10	22.76%

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DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund

DWS Emerging Markets Equity 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. 53) 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)

Shareholder Fees DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	5.75%	none	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	none	4.00%	1.00%	none	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	20	20	20	none	20

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
Management fee	1.02%	1.02%	1.02%	1.02%	1.02%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	0.24%	0.99%	1.00%	none	none
Other expenses	0.50%	0.68%	0.57%	0.34%	0.55%
Total annual fund operating expenses	1.76%	2.69%	2.59%	1.36%	1.57%
Less fee waiver/reimbursement	none	0.12%	0.02%	none	none
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement	1.76%	2.57%	2.57%	1.36%	1.57%

The Advisor has contractually agreed through January 31, 2014 to waive and/or reimburse fund expenses to the extent necessary to maintain the fund's total annual operating expenses (excluding extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses) at ratios no higher than 2.57% and 2.57% for Class B and Class C, respectively. The agreement may only be terminated with the consent of the fund's Board.

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 Class B and Class C) remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	744	660	360	138	160
3 Years	1,097	1,124	804	431	496
5 Years	1,474	1,614	1,374	745	855
10 Years	2,529	2,582	2,923	1,635	1,867

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	744	260	260	138	160
3 Years	1,097	824	804	431	496
5 Years	1,474	1,414	1,374	745	855
10 Years	2,529	2,582	2,923	1,635	1,867

Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.

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: 82%.

Principal Investment Strategy

Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in emerging market equities (equities traded mainly in emerging markets or issued by companies that are organized in emerging markets or have more than half of their business there). The fund considers "emerging markets" to include any country defined as an emerging or developing economy by The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank), the International Finance Corporation or the United Nations or its authorities.

The fund considers an issuer to have more than half of its business in emerging markets if at least (i) 50% of the issuer's assets are in an emerging market country, or (ii) 50% of an issuer's revenues or profits are from goods produced or sold, investments made, or services performed in emerging markets.

The fund may invest up to 20% of net assets in equities from the US or other developed markets. The fund may also invest up to 20% of net assets in US or emerging market debt securities when portfolio management believes these securities may perform at least as well as equities.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks, but may also invest in preferred stocks or convertible securities.

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. Based on 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.

Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well.

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.

Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund.

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.

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.

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.

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. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities.

Because the issuers of high-yield debt securities or junk bonds (debt securities rated below the fourth highest credit rating category) may be in uncertain financial health, the prices of their debt securities can be more vulnerable to bad economic news or even the expectation of bad news, than investment-grade debt securities.

Growth investing risk. As a category, growth stocks may underperform value stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. Because the prices of growth stocks are based largely on the expectation of future earnings, growth stock prices can decline rapidly and significantly in reaction to negative news about such factors as earnings, the economy, political developments, or other news.

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.)

Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price.

Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances.

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.

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: 32.27%, Q2 2009 Worst Quarter: -32.73%, Q4 2008

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2012 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 comparisons for Institutional Class shares began on 2/29/2008.

Average Annual Total Returns DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	May 29, 2001	8.52%	(7.96%)	11.81%
Class A After tax on distributions		8.59%	(7.89%)	10.65%
Class A After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares		5.95%	(6.46%)	10.59%
Class B before tax	May 29, 2001	11.26%	(7.90%)	11.51%
Class C before tax	May 29, 2001	14.22%	(7.66%)	11.55%
Class S before tax	May 08, 1996	15.35%	(6.65%)	12.74%
Class S MSCI Emerging Market Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)		18.22%	(0.92%)	16.52%

Average Annual Total Returns DWS Emerging Markets Equity Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	Since Inception
INST Class	Mar. 03, 2008	15.46%	(5.01%)
INST Class MSCI Emerging Market Index (reflects no deduction for fees or expenses)		18.22%	0.33%

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DWS World Dividend Fund

DWS World Dividend Fund

Investment Objective

The fund seeks total return, emphasizing both current income and capital appreciation.

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. 53) 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)

Shareholder Fees DWS World Dividend Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
Maximum sales charge (load) imposed on purchases, as % of offering price	5.75%	none	none	none	none
Maximum deferred sales charge (load), as % of redemption proceeds	none	4.00%	1.00%	none	none
Redemption/exchange fee on shares owned less than 15 days, as % of redemption proceeds	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%	2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee (annually, for fund balances below $10,000 and subject to certain exceptions)	20	20	20	none	20

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses DWS World Dividend Fund	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
Management fee	0.66%	0.66%	0.66%	0.66%	0.66%
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	0.23%	1.00%	1.00%	none	none
Other expenses	0.40%	0.99%	0.36%	0.33%	0.47%
Total annual fund operating expenses	1.29%	2.65%	2.02%	0.99%	1.13%

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 remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example DWS World Dividend Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	699	668	305	101	115
3 Years	960	1,123	634	315	359
5 Years	1,242	1,605	1,088	547	622
10 Years	2,042	2,345	2,348	1,213	1,375

You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your shares:

Expense Example, No Redemption DWS World Dividend Fund (USD $)	Class A	Class B	Class C	INST Class	Class S
1 Year	699	268	205	101	115
3 Years	960	823	634	315	359
5 Years	1,242	1,405	1,088	547	622
10 Years	2,042	2,345	2,348	1,213	1,375

Class B converts to Class A after six years; the Example for Class B reflects Class A fees after the conversion.

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: 19%.

Principal Investment Strategy

Main investments. Normally, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in dividend paying stocks. The fund will generally invest in at least three different countries and will normally invest at least 40% of net assets in securities issued by foreign based companies.

The fund's investments will include primarily common stocks issued by US and foreign based companies and may also include preferred stocks and other equity securities such as convertible securities and warrants.

Management process. Although the fund may invest in companies of any size and from any country, it will invest mainly in common stocks of established companies in countries with developed economies. The fund will seek income by investing in dividend paying stocks. Portfolio management looks for companies it believes are fundamentally strong and that it expects to have high, sustainable dividend yields and stable cash flows.

In choosing securities, portfolio management uses a combination of analytical disciplines:

• 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.
• 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.
• Analysis of regional themes. Portfolio management looks for significant social, economic, industrial and demographic changes, seeking to identify stocks that may benefit from them.

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.

Stock market risk. The fund is affected by how the stock market performs. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well.

Dividend-paying stock risk. As a category, dividend-paying stocks may underperform non-dividend paying stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time. In addition, if the dividend-paying stocks held by the fund reduce or stop paying dividends, the fund's ability to generate income may be adversely affected.

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.

Regional focus risk. Focusing investments in a single country or few countries, or regions, involves increased currency, political, regulatory and other risks. Market swings in such a targeted country, countries or regions will be likely to have a greater effect on fund performance than they would in a more geographically diversified fund.

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.

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.

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. Credit risk is greater for lower-rated securities.

Because the issuers of high-yield debt securities or junk bonds (debt securities rated below the fourth highest credit rating category) may be in uncertain financial health, the prices of their debt securities can be more vulnerable to bad economic news or even the expectation of bad news, than investment-grade debt securities.

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.)

Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment in an orderly fashion at an acceptable price.

Prepayment and extension risk. When interest rates fall, issuers of high interest debt obligations may pay off the debts earlier than expected (prepayment risk), and the fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower yields. When interest rates rise, issuers of lower interest debt obligations may pay off the debts later than expected (extension risk), thus keeping the fund's assets tied up in lower interest debt obligations. Ultimately, any unexpected behavior in interest rates could increase the volatility of the fund's share price and yield and could hurt fund performance. Prepayments could also create capital gains tax liability in some instances.

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.

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: 26.32%, Q3 2009 Worst Quarter: -24.31%, Q4 2008

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2012 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 comparisons for Institutional Class shares began on 3/31/2005.

Average Annual Total Returns DWS World Dividend Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	Mar. 19, 2001	4.47%	(5.93%)	6.01%
Class A After tax on distributions		3.87%	(6.39%)	5.42%
Class A After tax on distributions and sale of fund shares		3.45%	(5.00%)	5.28%
Class B before tax	Mar. 19, 2001	6.88%	(5.81%)	5.70%
Class C before tax	Mar. 19, 2001	10.04%	(5.60%)	5.76%
Class S before tax	Oct. 10, 1994	10.99%	(4.61%)	6.85%
Class S MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index		12.24%	(1.31%)
Class S MSCI World Index		15.83%	(1.18%)	7.51%

Average Annual Total Returns DWS World Dividend Fund	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	Since Inception
INST Class	Mar. 11, 2005	11.18%	(4.39%)	2.42%
INST Class MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index		12.24%	(1.31%)
INST Class MSCI World Index		15.83%	(1.18%)	4.10%

The Advisor believes the MSCI World High Dividend Yield Index, which was first calculated on 5/31/06, generally represents the fund's overall investment process. The Advisor believes the additional MSCI World Index reflects typical fund asset allocations and also provides comparative performance over a ten year period with a broad-based securities market index.