diff --git a/Modules/_datetimemodule.c b/Modules/_datetimemodule.c
index 205b15bb18..1df773138a 100644
--- a/Modules/_datetimemodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_datetimemodule.c
@@ -4416,23 +4416,25 @@ datetime_utcfromtimestamp(PyObject *cls, PyObject *args)
     return result;
 }
 
+static PyObject *strptime_module = NULL;
+
 /* Return new datetime from _strptime.strptime_datetime(). */
 static PyObject *
 datetime_strptime(PyObject *cls, PyObject *args)
 {
-    static PyObject *module = NULL;
     PyObject *string, *format;
     _Py_IDENTIFIER(_strptime_datetime);
 
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "UU:strptime", &string, &format))
         return NULL;
 
-    if (module == NULL) {
-        module = PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock("_strptime");
-        if (module == NULL)
+    if (strptime_module == NULL) {
+        strptime_module = PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock("_strptime");
+        if (strptime_module == NULL)
             return NULL;
     }
-    return _PyObject_CallMethodIdObjArgs(module, &PyId__strptime_datetime,
+    return _PyObject_CallMethodIdObjArgs(strptime_module,
+                                         &PyId__strptime_datetime,
                                          cls, string, format, NULL);
 }
 
@@ -5627,7 +5629,9 @@ static PyDateTime_CAPI CAPI = {
     new_time_ex2
 };
 
-
+static void module_free(void) {
+    strptime_module = NULL;
+}
 
 static struct PyModuleDef datetimemodule = {
     PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
@@ -5638,7 +5642,7 @@ static struct PyModuleDef datetimemodule = {
     NULL,
     NULL,
     NULL,
-    NULL
+    module_free
 };
 
 PyMODINIT_FUNC