When using Python CTypes there are the Structures, that allow you to clone c-structures on the Python side, and the POINTERS objects that create a sofisticated Python Object from a memory address value and can be used to pass objects by reference back and forth C code. What I could not find on the documentation or elsewhere is what happens when a Python object containing a Structure class that was de-referenced from a returning pointer from C Code (that is - the C function alocated memory for the structure) is itself deleted. Is the memory for the original C structure freed? If not how to do it? Furthermore -- what if the Structure contains Pointers itself, to other data that was also allocated by the C function? Does the deletion of the Structure object frees the Pointers onits members? (I doubt so) Else - -how to do it? Trying to call the system "free" from Python for the Pointers in the Structure is crashing Python for me. In other words, I have this structure filled up by a c Function call: class PIX(ctypes.Structure): """Comments not generated """ _fields_ = [ ("w", ctypes.c_uint32), ("h", ctypes.c_uint32), ("d", ctypes.c_uint32), ("wpl", ctypes.c_uint32), ("refcount", ctypes.c_uint32), ("xres", ctypes.c_uint32), ("yres", ctypes.c_uint32), ("informat", ctypes.c_int32), ("text", ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_char)), ("colormap", ctypes.POINTER(PIXCOLORMAP)), ("data", ctypes.POINTER(ctypes.c_uint32)) ] And I want to free the memory it is using up from Python code.