Static class members python

So I'm using static class members so I can share data between class methods and static methods of the same class (there will only be 1 instantiation of the class). I understand this fine, but I'm just wondering when the static members get initialized? Is it on import? On the first use of the class? Because I'm going to be calling the static members of this class from more than 1 module (therefore more than 1 import statement). Will all the modules accessing the static methods share the same static data members? And if my main client deletes the instance of my class, and then recreates it (without terminating altogether or re-importing stuff), will my data members be preserved?