title: How to free static member variable in C++?
body: <p>Can anybody explain how to free memory of a static member Variable? In my understanding it can only be freed if all the instances of the class are destroyed. I am a little bit helpless at this point...</p>
  
  <p>Some Code to explain it:</p>
  
  <pre><code>class ball
  {
      private:
      static SDL_Surface *ball_image;
  };
  //FIXME: how to free static Variable?
  SDL_Surface* ball::ball_image = SDL_LoadBMP("ball.bmp");
  </code></pre>